Words to LIVE by!

The other day I was searching for a scripture in e-sword, looking for the verse that said that God has already determined every place that we will “live” (which, btw, I found in Acts 17:26:”From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”)  So, when I searched under the word “live” in the New Testament, 121 scriptures came up and, as I was going through them, I was amazed at how many of these were instructions on how we should “live” as Christians!!  So, I thought I would pull them out and list them for myself:

Romans 1:17: "The righteous will live by faith."

Romans 8:4:”…do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”

Romans 12:18: “…live at peace with everyone.”

2 Corinthians 5:7: “…We live by faith, not by sight.”

2 Corinthians 5:15: “… [We] should no longer live for [ourselves] but for him who died for [us] and was raised again.”

2 Corinthians 10:3: “...though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.”

Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Galatians 3:11: “The righteous will live by faith."

Galatians 5:13: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”

Gal 5:14: “…Love your neighbor as yourself."

Galatians 5:16: “… live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

Ephesians 4:1: “…I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

Ephesians 5:2: “…live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Ephesians 5:8: “... Live as children of light”

Ephesians 5:15: “…Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise,”

Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Philippians 4:5: “Let your gentleness be evident to all…”

Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God…”

Philippians 4:8: “...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.”

Colossians 1:10: “…live a life worthy of the Lord and may [you] please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,”

Colossians 2:6: “… just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him…”

1Thessalonians 2:12: “… [we are] encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.”

1Thessalonians 4:3: “…you should avoid sexual immorality…”

1Thessalonians 4:4: “… you should learn to control [your] own body in a way that is holy and honorable…”

1Thessalonians 4:7: “…God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”

1Thessalonians 4:11: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands…”

1Thessalonians 5:13: “… Live in peace with each other.”

1Timothy 2:2: “…that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

Titus 2:2: “…Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.”

Titus 2:3: “…Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.”

Titus 2:4-5: “… train the younger women to love their husbands and children… [ to be] self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

Titus 2:6: “… encourage the young men to be self-controlled.”

Titus 2:12: “… say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…”

Titus 3:14: “… learn to devote [yourselves] to doing what is good… and not live unproductive lives.”

Hebrews 10:38: “…my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."

Hebrews 12:9: “… submit to the Father of our spirits and live!”

Hebrews 12:14: “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

Hebrews 13:18: “…desire to live honorably in every way.”

James 3:13: “…Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”

James 3:17: “…But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”

James 3:18: “Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”

1Peter 1:17: “…live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.”

1Peter 2:16: “Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.”

1Peter 2:24: “…die to sins and live for righteousness…”

1Peter 3:7-8: “Husbands… be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect…”

1Peter 3:8: “…all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.”

1Peter 4:2: “… [do] not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.”

1Peter 4:11: “…If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides…”

1Peter 4:12-13: “…do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

2 Peter 3:11: “…You ought to live holy and godly lives”

2 Peter 3:14: “… make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”

2 Peter 3:17: “…be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.”

2 Peter 3:18: “…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

1John 2:6: “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

1John 3:24: “Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.”

Matthew 4:4: “Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "

There are still MANY more instructions like these but I think these are a good representation of what is listed and they will keep me busy for awhile…!!!

Father, I pray that these words and instructions will burn in my heart and mind and guide me in my daily life as I allow the Holy Spirit to remind and instruct me. I thank you Lord for making these instructions available to me and then giving me the desire and the strength to live them out. In your Holy Name I pray, Amen.

Linda's Journal - Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Last night, or rather early this morning, I had a dream that was very spiritual in nature.  It began when I overheard this girl talking about church or religion and saying “who would even want to have anything to do with it!” Even though I did not know this girl I felt compelled to answer her. I said something to the effect of, “There is a difference between ‘God’ and ‘religion’…  With God there is relationship and truth and it has the power to change and transform the lives of people…”  And when I was speaking, and sharing the Truth, I felt a shift in the spirit and I felt power go forth from my words and they had a powerful impact on this girl and it rocked her to her core and brought her to tears!! She felt the Truth of who Jesus was and recognized it! Then, later on in the dream I was sharing with another girl about the Lord and I wanted to show her something so I took her to a “locker room” type setting where I had my books and study’s in one of the lockers and on my way there, I saw the first girl that I spoke to sitting in the room, and she had a book and journal of her own with lots of notes and scriptures and was completely engrossed, enthralled, consumed, overtaken and overwhelmed by the Lord as she was discovering who He was… she was trying to explain it to me but words were not enough, just tears flowed from her eyes. I KNEW what she was feeling and I connected with her there and held her and caressed her like a mother with her child and it was like we shared a secret ‘treasure’ that few find! I assured her that she didn’t need to explain… I knew already what she was feeling and I met her there…  It was very cool!

When I woke up, I thought about both of these segments of my dream and processed them and then got up and did my yoga workout (Jillian’s yoga “meltdown” for the first time!).  After my workout I sat on the couch and got ready to read the “Adventuring through the Bible” chapter on Obadiah but before I did, I thought about the dream again and the connection that the girl and I shared with finding Jesus and the “Truth”. I have that now with some of the girls that I meet with… we share a connection with the truth and we are able to talk about Jesus and our walk with each other that we can’t with others and it is a very special thing. As I was thinking about this I pictured us, the women I have connected with, in a mining tunnel digging in the dirt searching for the gems and jewels we knew where there… and then discovering that the gems didn’t look like what we, or others, thought they would look like… but we found them while others looked past them and missed them!! The truth is always there but if we are looking for something else, we will miss it!! 

So, after that thought process was complete, I decided to get into Obadiah with Ray and was blown away by the Lord when I read the last sentence of the second paragraph; “…but diligent students mine an amazing array of rich treasures at a deeper level…”!!!! Oh my gosh! I never think about “mining” or digging treasures… and then when I do, God uses the same analogy in a book I am reading to confirm what I was thinking!  Lord, you are so amazing!!

Father, I thank you that you meet us where we are… no matter where that is. I thank you that you reveal Yourself to those who diligently seek you and reveal the treasures of the TRUTH in a world full of lies, deceptions and distractions.  You are Truth and Your Love is real and full of transforming power to make us more like You to bring glory to your Name, Amen!

What thoughts should we take CAPTIVE?

I have had a couple of rough months lately... for several reasons but I will spare you all the gory details :) My main struggle has been primarily with my thoughts... as usual... What else is new, right?!  Can any of you relate??  Although, I do have to say that this time the thoughts came from a different direction so I was caught off guard and it took me a little while longer to get back on track.  I have been wanting to write about "taking our thoughts captive" for a while so, now that I am on the other side of this, I thought that now might be a good time :)

Jesus has already won the VICTORY!

The enemy of our souls is constantly waging war against us... lying, deceiving, distracting and constantly working to keep us off track from our purpose as servants of the Lord.  He even uses "good" things to distract us from what is "best" ("When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye..." (Genesis 3:6).  Our mind is truly the only place where the battle continues to wage because Jesus has already WON the victory for us!!  Do we truly KNOW that the battle has already been won?  Do we live in the freedom He died to give us or continue to allow the enemy to take us captive even though Christ has already completely paid for our freedom??  Do we combat the lies with the truth of who we are in Christ?  Or do we just let him control our thoughts and let them run away with us?  Just for example, how many of us are still bound up in FEAR and ANXIETY.... ?  This world has pumped us FULL of reasons to fear but Jesus has not given us a spirit of "fear" but of Love, Power and a sound mind! (2 Timothy 1:7 kJV) Perfect love casts out all fear...(1John 4:18)  And how many times does He say "Do not fear"... Do we believe these truths or do we believe the lies that keep us in fear and in bondage?

What thoughts should we take CAPTIVE?

So, back to the question in the subject line "What thoughts should we take CAPTIVE?"  Here is a really good scripture to help us with the answer to that question: "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)  

Did you catch that!!??  We take captive every thought that "sets itself up against the KNOWLEDGE of God"  Those are the thoughts that are most dangerous to our freedom in Christ.  I had never seen that before until recently!!  I always just skipped to the "take captive every thought" part.  Wow.  The enemy does NOT want us to KNOW God... Hmmm very interesting!!  Why do you think that is??  Could it be that there is freedom and power in our knowledge of Him??  When we truly KNOW Him, we will KNOW the Truth, and the Truth will SET US FREE!!  Now, here is another question... Do we know and trust Christ enough to make this happen now?  Do we know Him, His love for us and the freedom He has purchased for us enough to "stand your ground" and "stand firm" in the truth and full armor of God when the enemy comes against you with lies and distractions (Ephesians 6)?  If not, what are we doing about it?? 

Busyness.... Worry and Fear

So, what are the thoughts that come against our knowledge of God?  One of the biggies in this day and age is busyness.  Thinking we need to "DO" things for Christ... and thinking we don't have the time and are too busy to spend the time we know we need with Him; "I don't have time for you today Lord, I am too busy with church and Bible studies, children and activities... maybe tomorrow... or next week?"  I served the church and worked for God with my whole heart, for many years, but after all those years of hard work, I did not KNOW God any better than I did when I started, yet, those were the very things that kept me from spending time with Him!! Other thoughts that come against the knowledge of God, as I mentioned earlier, are worry and fear... about provision... will we have enough?  Worry about health, stability, family.... All of those thoughts keep our minds so busy with worry and fear that we are not meditating on God's truth and amazing provision He has already provided for us!!  "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life....? (Matthew 6:25-32)  

Is God enough?

And, yet another battle of the mind, for those of us who have husbands that are addicts, are thoughts about our husbands!!  Focusing too much on him and the things he doesn't do (that we want him to do) and the things he does do (that we don't want him to do), and finding fault in things that he does that make us angry and then we run scenario's over and over in our minds of things that have never, and will never happened...  We spend so much wasted time on these unproductive and unpleasant thoughts that just tear us down and not build us up. We need to ask ourselves; Do I trust God with my husband?  Is God BIG enough, strong enough, wise enough?  Does the creator of the universe, heaven and earth, and all the things in them, need my help to fix things? These are just a few examples of the lies that come against the knowledge of God... how about you??  Can you think of any?? 

What does the Bible say about seeking the knowledge of God?

The last couple of years God has given me this burning desire to KNOW Him... I mean truly KNOW Him.  Not just know "about" Him or "of" Him, or even rely on all the things I have been taught about Him, but really truly get to know HIM.  So, now, whenever I am reading the Bible, I am seeing, (like for the first time) all the scriptures that talk about KNOWING God and Jesus and seeking the Knowledge of God.  Here are a few that I have found:

"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done." Romans 1:28

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him." 2 Corinthians 2:14 

"For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6 

"...until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:13 

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding." Colossians 1:9 

"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God," Colossians 1:10 

"Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth," 2 Timothy 2:25  - (Remember, Jesus is the way, the "Truth" and the life)

"Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness-- " Titus 1:1 

"Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." 2 Peter 1:2

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." 2 Peter 1:3 This is a powerful one!!  Our knowledge of Him will give us EVERYTHING we need for life and godliness...  wow.

"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ" Philippians 3:8 

"He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, " 'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.'" Luke 8:10

He is speaking to His disciples here, the ones who "knew" Him the best... 

Have NO other motivation...?

In Oswald Chamber's September 16th entry he is talking about prayer.  He say's that we should all have times when we go to our quiet and secret places of prayer and during that time he say's that we should "Have no motivation other than to know your Father in heaven."  Now, that is a new one... and very challenging!  Aren't we supposed to pray for others? Pray for ourselves?  Seek direction and answers to our life's questions??  I believe that when we have "no motivation other than to know" our Father in heaven, all those things will be answered and taken care of (Matthew 6:33)!!!  That is another one of Satan's distractions of what is "good" but not "best"!  Yes, it is a good thing to pray for others, it is a good thing to seek God's counsel for life choices, but what is best is to truly KNOW HIM, walk with Him talk with Him, searching out the wonders of who He is...  like you would with your first love ("Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart...). One of my favorite song lyrics is "I want to know the color of your eyes"... YES!  That is my hearts desire!!  I can so see Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, looking into His eyes (as Martha is all flustered with the cares of the meal), and she is longingly looking into the face of her Lord, listening to every word He speaks... saying nothing but desiring to catch every word that comes from His mouth...  I believe Mary truly wanted to "know" God and Martha was struggling with all the thoughts that "set themselves up against the knowledge of God."

What does it mean to "Know" God?

So, how do we define "knowing" God? What does that really mean?  I looked up a couple definitions to the original words that were used in these scriptures and have listed them below:

Thayer Definition:

1) to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel

1a) to become known

2) to know, understand, perceive, have knowledge of

2a) to understand

2b) to know

3) Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman

4) to become acquainted with, to know

(I am seeing some "action" words here....)

Thayer Definition:

1) to become thoroughly acquainted with, to know thoroughly

1a) to know accurately, know well

2) to know

2a) to recognise

2a1) by sight, hearing, of certain signs, to perceive who a person is

2b) to know, i.e. to perceive

2c) to know, i.e. to find out, ascertain

2d) to know, i.e. to understand

Relationship and Intimacy

All of these definitions really just boil down to "relationship"... and "intimacy".  The more time you spend with someone, invest your time with them, and pursue them, the more you will know them... That knowledge of them comes in handy when someone else comes along and speaks lies about that person!  If you truly know that person you can refute those lies with the truth of who they are... but if you don't know them, how can you do that?

So, in a nutshell, the thoughts that we are to take captive are; every thought that keeps you from pursuing and knowing God, thoughts that cause fear and anxiety, thoughts that make you doubt God's goodness and the truth of who He is and His love for you.  Thoughts that He is too busy, too weak, and/or just can't handle you or your life.  You need to take those thoughts captive by not allowing them to consume your thoughts and influence your behavior and then replace those lies with the truth of who God is and who you are in Him... but, remember,  that requires "knowing" Him and who you are in Him :)  Boy, this is so much easier said than done!!

Father, I truly want to KNOW You... I pray that you would give us ALL that burning desire, hunger and thirst that David had when he said "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." (Psalms 42:1).  I thank you also for the insight as to what the enemy is trying to distract us from... The knowledge of you is what gives us "everything we need for life and godliness"!  Help us Lord to take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ and not let the enemy distract us with the "good" things when we can have the "best"!!  I pray that you would show each of us what that means and looks like in each of our lives, and give us the strength to live it out.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

Linda's Journal - Thursday, February 3, 2011

It has been awhile since I have written…  Not sure why, but I just have not felt led or “compelled” to write.  When I did, I didn’t have the time and the moment or inspiration faded with the activities of the days. I started sleeping in again which limited my time to do things like write, workout… and spend time with the Lord, but I am back on track now… hopefully I will stay consistent with this for awhile :)

I have been struggling with depression the last month or so.  I was going to start the FWO group up on January 6^th but no one was able to come so I was wondering what the Lord was doing. I felt like he was doing a “new thing” (Isaiah 48) but at this point I am still waiting. Then I made an email mistake with the FWO group that got several women very angry with me and that was very hard on me. Then I got a job opportunity presented to me that was VERY tempting but after prayer I felt the Lord reminding me that I already have a job and if I took that one, He would fade from my focus and the job would become my God. 

I have felt like the Lord is telling me to “forget the former things”… to look to Him and not do my normal follow-up emails and check-in’s with the girls but to let them go and trust Him with them. I have done my part and it is now up to them and Him to go forward. I tend to slip into my “fix-it” mode and try to prop up and encourage and convince these women of what they need to do, but they have to WANT to do it… if they don’t, no amount of propping, encouraging or convincing will help them.

This morning I was reading about the book of Jeremiah in Adventuring through the Bible and was reminded again that we are called to be “obedient” to what God is asking of us… not “successful”!!! The results are completely in God’s hands not ours. Jeremiah spent 40 years serving the Lord without success in the worlds eyes… ignored, persecuted, rejected, imprisoned and with no apparent results of his dedication, prophesies and words to the kings of his time.That seemed to hit a cord with me this morning. I have spent 10 years pouring my heart out to women who come to me, looking for help, but then when I tell them what they need to do, they either reject it, or say it is too hard and go back to the way they were. Very few of them really “get it” and do what they are supposed to do and then see the desired results. 

Ray Steadman’s final comments for the book of Jeremiah are “God is greater than our circumstances, our setbacks, our disappointments, and our opposition.  He is bigger than anything and everything else in our lives. No matter how depressing life may seem, the God who has called us is the same great God who is able to sustain us. If we take our eyes off our circumstances and fasten them firmly on God, then we will be strengthened to rise to our task and to achieve true success: obedience to God.”

This was a good reminder for me!! All I am called to do is be obedient… to abide, to fix my eyes on Jesus and trust God for the rest!! Thank you, Jeremiah, for your life and example to all of us to endure and be obedient no matter what happens, or doesn’t happen, in this life.

Father, I thank you for “being bigger than anything and everything else in our lives” and that your plan is the best, no matter what it looks like to me!!  Help me Lord to keep my eyes on you and not my circumstances. Thank you for my perspective adjustment this morning. Help me Lord to remember this and not to allow my circumstances to dictate how I feel about things in my life. In your precious name Lord, amen!

Are our "EXPECTATIONS" set correctly?

I wanted to follow up with you regarding our lunch meeting last Saturday.  As usual, we had a really good discussion and God showed us and reminded us of some very important things.  One of the things was regarding our "expectations"... Are they set correctly??  I know I spent many years being angry at Tom for things he "was" or "wasn't" doing... which he basically ALWAYS or NEVER did accordingly  We have a tendency to "expect" certain behaviors from our spouse that we feel are "reasonable" expectations, based on what we have heard or have been taught... BUT are they realistic and reasonable for OUR spouse??  If you are in my group, chances are good that your husband is an addict of some sort.  Are we expecting them to be normal??  Are we expecting them to do things that non-addicts do?  Every once in a while I need to review what my expectations of Tom are and do some adjusting according to what I discover them to be. If you have never done this, start off by writing down all the expectations you have of your husband.  Then go through and ask yourself "has he ever done these things?"And then "has he done them in the last few years?"  If he has never done them or hasn't in a few years, remove them from your expectations list and ADD them to your PRAYER list. Don't NAG HIM but petition God for those needs to be met in your life and allow HIM to make the needed changes in your husband and/or you.  If you do this, chances are good that you will be less angry and disappointed with your husband. 

Another expectation question is; "Are we still expecting them to think, communicate and behave like a women?"  I have always said "of course men are different than women, anyone can see that!" But then I would still get mad at Tom for not seeing the things I see (i.e. the overflowing trash, dirty bathroom, clothes on the floor....), or do the things I would do...  Some how the "logical" fact that they are different didn't seem to sink down into my expectations of him!!  I still expected him to think and behave as I would even though I understood that he was different...  somehow, there was a serious disconnect somewhere in there!  Not only that but we are also dealing with a difference of how "men" express themselves. I think I can safely say that men and women speak two different languages!  For example: Let's say I say to Tom, I don't feel loved, accepted or treasured.  My love languages are "acts of service" and "quality time" and his is "physical touch" and "words of affirmation".  Soooo, being a MAN and a man with different love languages, he attempts to show me love by complimenting me and touching, hugging and kissing me when I am trying to get something accomplished and then inviting me to sit and watch football with him and then suggest we make love!!  In HIS mind, he is trying to fulfill my desires to feel loved, accepted and treasured but I walk away angry and irritated because, in my mind, those needs were still not met and it just seemed like he was being selfish and meeting his own needs!!  Can you relate to any of this??  But the truth is, he truly WANTS to show me love and treasure me but we just speak such different languages we keep missing each other. Then, when I react with anger and hurt, he is dumbfounded and walks away feeling rejected and discouraged and wonders why he even tries!!  I have decided that I need to be a student of my husbands "man speak" and his "love languages" and quit expecting him to think, act and behave like I would!!

Last but not least, another thing that we talked about was how women tend to avoid sex while that seems to be the very thing our husbands want most from us!  There is A LOT to this subject that I will not even attempt to go into at this point but as I was processing it over the weekend, I had a thought;  Why is it that we (women) have the mindset that we are "giving" of ourselves when our husbands want to make love instead of seeing it as an opportunity to "receive" something from our husbands?  For most of my marriage my mindset was "I have poured myself out throughout the day and I have nothing left to give....", (which is so wrong on several different levels) but, isn't that something that HE GIVES to me too??  Rather than feeling like it will "empty" my tank even more, wouldn't it instead be "filling" my tank?? (no pun intended here... :))  Anyway, I just thought I would run that by you guys and see what your thoughts were on that.

Have you prayed for your husband today??  Here is a Power of a Praying wife prayer for you :

Lord, teach me how to pray for my husband and make my prayers a true language of love.  Where love has died, create new love between us.  Show me what unconditional love really is and how to communicate it in a way he can clearly perceive.  Bring unity between us so that we can be in agreement about everything (Amos 3:3).  May the God of patience and comfort grant us to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus (Romans 15:5).  Make us a team, not pursuing separate, competitive, or independent lives, but working together, overlooking each other's faults and weaknesses for the greater good of the marriage.  Help us to pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another (Romans 14:19).

"Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."  Galatians 6:9

With much love and prayer,

Your servant in Christ,

Linda :)

So, you think you can DANCE?

Last night I met with a dear friend and she shared with me a wonderful story and revelation the Lord showed her this last month.  To set the stage a little, in her personal story, her husband chose to not work on the marriage so they have been divorced for about 3 years.  During these last few year she has allowed the Lord to be her teacher, husband, friend and companion and she has grown in leaps and bounds in her walk with the Lord and in her healing.  It has been such an honor and privilege to walk along side of her and watch her grow :)  

Anyway, she recently had an opportunity to take a "Swing dancing" class, and despite her "Baptist" upbringing and feelings that she might be doing something "wrong"... she went ahead and gave it a try.  She LOVED it and is now HOOKED on dancing :)  So, the story she relayed to me last night was; during the classes, the instructor was telling the lady's that in order for them to know what the "leader" wanted them to do, they had to "press in" to the leaders hands (the visual would be, hands up to about chest level, face to face, hand to hand, with the man leading with his hands) and if the dance required his arms on her back, she was to lean back into his hand on her back to get the signals.  The instructor also said that they needed to "relax" and TRUST that the leader is directing them correctly, and at one point even had them close their eyes so they could learn to "feel" the leading and the signals without trying to anticipate or try to lead themselves.  She said the instructor mentioned that if you don't press in, relax and trust your partner, you will end up with a lot of "miss steps" and eventually end up doing your own dance and even stepping on and hurting your partner...  (Can you see where this is leading??)  In the dance classes, she is learning how to relax and trust her partner and she said it was the most amazing and "freeing" experience she has ever felt!  To just "relax" and let HIM lead made the dance so much easier and so much more fun!! So, my friend said that God gave her a huge revelation of how she messed up in her marriage in this regard...  She said that, FIRST OF ALL, her first dance partner was GOD, and that in His dance with her, He was leading her away from the guy that she wanted to marry but instead of relaxing and trusting Him with leading the dance, she went off and started another dance all her own.  And, once she was married, she lost confidence in her husbands ability to lead so she started leading the dance herself...  and once again ended up dancing alone.

I just LOVE this analogy!!  The "pressing in" to God first to get your instructions from Him and then... press into your husband and allow him to lead... no matter what decisions he makes (which can be REALLY hard and scary sometimes!!  This is when I say, don't trust your husband so much as trust GOD with your husband!), and lean into him and allow him to lead the dance.  I know this sounds very "simplistic" and I would have to agree... but at the same time, I believe we can ALL glean something from this analogy and her revelation.  I pray that we all will allow God to speak to our hearts and see if we can relate and apply some of this to our own walk with the Lord and marriages.

I think our first and foremost miss-step is always not allowing GOD to lead us in the dance of our lives to begin with... not wanting to WAIT on HIM and His timing and His choices for us.  We always think we know so much better what we need and want than He does!  But... He created us and knows every hair on our head and HE knit us together in our mothers womb... How can He NOT know our hearts and what is best for us!?  Lord, please forgive us for not trusting You to lead us in the dance of our lives!  Help us Lord to PRESS IN to YOU so that we can feel Your leading and Your directional signals for each day of our lives... not only in our marriages but in our jobs, as parents, as servants...  Thank you Lord for being "The LORD of the DANCE"!!  

(I have attached the link to the song "Lord of the Dance" by Steven Curtis Chapman that I thought would be a great ending to this blog :):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_MnQxAd16k

With much love and prayer,

Your fellow servant and dancer,

Linda :)

Don't resent the tools that God uses to shape us...

I had a great time with the Lord this morning and decided to share a little story with you but first here is how I got there.  As usual, I started off my day with Oswald (http://utmost.org/) and his scripture was Hebrews 11:6: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."  Notice the important "qualifying" part... "those who EARNESTLY seek HIM"?  How easy it is to miss that part!  Anyway, that led me to reading chapters 11 and 12 of Hebrews which the author is encouraging his readers to not give up, to endure the suffering to look at those who went before them and see them as examples for us to follow...  By faith...Noah, Abraham, Isaac... Moses... lived against all odds and believed God and it was credited to them as righteousness... even though they never saw the fulfillment of God's promises.

So, after I read these chapters I decided to read one of the commentaries in e-sword and here is an excerpt of the commentary that I read:

"The Christian view of suffering is now presented. Why do persecution, testings, trials, sickness, pain, sorrow, and trouble come into the life of the believer? Are they a sign of God's anger or displeasure? Do they happen by chance? How should we react to them? These verses teach that these things are part of God's educative process for His children. Although they do not come from God, He permits them, then overrules them for His glory, for our good, and for the blessing of others. Nothing happens by chance to the Christian. Tragedies are blessings in disguise, and disappointments are His appointments. God harnesses the adverse circumstances of life to conform us to the image of Christ."

When I read the last line it reminded me of the story I mentioned earlier that I wanted to share.  Tom and I heard a great audio teaching where the teacher talks about three guys that followed him around and went to every speaking engament he had and made it their business to annoy, aggravate and disrupt his life as much as possible (He called them the 3 Stooges!).  He talked about how he hated these guys and tried everything to get them to stop following and harassing him but they just kept coming! Then he told us that God gave him a dream and in that dream he was sitting in God's lap and God asked him if he would like to see a sculpture that He was making.  Of course he said yes so God brought out this piece of sculpture and it was looking pretty good but it was still not quite finished and there people that were still working on it.  God asked him if he wanted to know who he was sculpting and then He asked him if he wanted to know who was working on it.  Well, the piece of art work was HIM and the workers were the three Stooges that were making him miserable!!  Then God said to him, "Don't resent the tools I use to form and shape you"...  From then on, he went out of his way to say "hi" to the guys and be nice to them and eventually they went away.

I bring these two things up, the commentary and the story to remind us that God is not surprised by anything that happens to us!!  Bad things that happen to us are not to punish us (although sometimes they are the consequences of our actions), having an illness, financial struggles or even a husband that struggles with pornography are not accidents... or punishments, they are tools that God is using to form and shape you!!  In the book "Lies Women Believe and the Truth that sets them free" one of my favorite statements Nancy Leigh DeMoss makes is "Our circumstances do not make us who we are but they REVEAL who we are"!?  What has your circumstances revealed about you??  Will you allow God to use these tools to form and shape you?

Father, I pray right now that we all will not resent the tools you use to form us!  Help us Lord to be yielded to Your working and skillful hands and allow You to form and shape us into the image of Christ more and more every day.  Help us to trust You with all things in our lives and surrender everything to you,  In Jesus name, amen!