I usually don't just send my readers off somewhere else to read something, but a friend of mine shared this blog with me and the first post I came across touched me so much and I felt God speaking to me through it. So I just have to share it with all of you. Please read through the entire post.
Cup - Expectations kill relationships
(Thanks Julia!)
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Fear of the Lord in the Psalms
Tonight I want to share with you some of the things regarding the Fear of the Lord in the Psalms. I'm paraphrasing what the Fear of the Lord either means or leads to according to the verse and I'm listing the chapter and verse so you can look them up yourself as well.
1. Lack nothing (34:9)
2. Angel of the Lord surrounds and delivers (34:7)
3. The Lord confides in and makes His covenant known (25:14)
4. Great goodness is stored up and bestowed (31:19)
5. They eyes of the Lord are on them (33:18)
6. Salvation is near to them (85:9)
7. He has great love for them (103:11)
8. His love is with them from everlasting to everlasting and His righteousness is with their children's children (103:17)
9. H provides food for them, compassion and grace, He remembers His covenant forever (111:4-5)
10. He will bless them (115:13)
11. He who fears the Lord is blessed (128:4)
12. He fulfills their desires, He hears their cries and saves them (145:19)
This coming weekend I'll also be sharing with you a little bit about a study that a friend of mine is doing and has been gracious enough to share with me. I believe it all ties into what I'm already studying now and I'm very excited about what I'm learning from it! I also have some verses from Proverbs and elsewhere regarding the Fear of the Lord that I think are very meaningful that I'll share.
1. Lack nothing (34:9)
2. Angel of the Lord surrounds and delivers (34:7)
3. The Lord confides in and makes His covenant known (25:14)
4. Great goodness is stored up and bestowed (31:19)
5. They eyes of the Lord are on them (33:18)
6. Salvation is near to them (85:9)
7. He has great love for them (103:11)
8. His love is with them from everlasting to everlasting and His righteousness is with their children's children (103:17)
9. H provides food for them, compassion and grace, He remembers His covenant forever (111:4-5)
10. He will bless them (115:13)
11. He who fears the Lord is blessed (128:4)
12. He fulfills their desires, He hears their cries and saves them (145:19)
This coming weekend I'll also be sharing with you a little bit about a study that a friend of mine is doing and has been gracious enough to share with me. I believe it all ties into what I'm already studying now and I'm very excited about what I'm learning from it! I also have some verses from Proverbs and elsewhere regarding the Fear of the Lord that I think are very meaningful that I'll share.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Fear of the Lord or Fear of Man
Today I had to honestly face whether I feared God or man. I don't want to go into all the details because in the end this post is not about the exact details so much as it is about God revealing to me that I'm not quite where I had thought I was.
I learned today that in some ways I'm not even close to fearing God the way I should. Instead I fear man. I fear what those around me think of me and I fear truely sharing who God is to me with others. Today I was put in a situation where I risked looking foolish to those around me in order to obey my Lord. I've known about needing to do this for two days now, but a part of me was trying to figure out a way to avoid the situation. I was trying to justify a way to get out of it, so I would not look foolish to others and so I could feel like I was doing God's will at the same time
Just before the time to do what I needed to do, God revealed to me my mindset. At that moment it was so obvious to me what I had been doing, but before that point I honestly had no idea!
I started praying for the Lord to help me to fear Him and to obey Him, instead of being so worried about what others may say about me or think of me. I sit here and say I love God, that I will obey Him, even die for my beliefs if necessary, but I was afraid of someone looking at me strangely today. The logic is so twisted.
I can't say that when I prayed my mindset totally shifted and I did what God required of me without a second thought. I still had that little voice in my head saying "Those people are going to think you are weird! Your boss is not going to respect you any longer. She'll think you're a quack!" However, God gave me peace and gave me the strength to push past that and do as He wanted me to do. In the end the feeling of obeying God felt wonderful. It was like I could see Him up there smiling at me saying "There you go Angela. One step closer to who I want you to become!"
Recently I heard someone say that everyone says they are willing to sacrifice for the Lord, but they are thinking of sacrificing money, time or their lives. Not that those things are bad, they are not. However, many times (especially in our society) what God is asking us to do is to be different, to do something new. That means standing for Him. I'm not talking about a "I'm in your face" kind of stand. What I mean is standing for Him in such as way that others will see you as foolish. Standing for Him in a way that humbles you, because you have totally set aside your pride and are concerning yourself with what He wants, not how others will see you. Does that make sense?
I learned today that in some ways I'm not even close to fearing God the way I should. Instead I fear man. I fear what those around me think of me and I fear truely sharing who God is to me with others. Today I was put in a situation where I risked looking foolish to those around me in order to obey my Lord. I've known about needing to do this for two days now, but a part of me was trying to figure out a way to avoid the situation. I was trying to justify a way to get out of it, so I would not look foolish to others and so I could feel like I was doing God's will at the same time
Just before the time to do what I needed to do, God revealed to me my mindset. At that moment it was so obvious to me what I had been doing, but before that point I honestly had no idea!
I started praying for the Lord to help me to fear Him and to obey Him, instead of being so worried about what others may say about me or think of me. I sit here and say I love God, that I will obey Him, even die for my beliefs if necessary, but I was afraid of someone looking at me strangely today. The logic is so twisted.
I can't say that when I prayed my mindset totally shifted and I did what God required of me without a second thought. I still had that little voice in my head saying "Those people are going to think you are weird! Your boss is not going to respect you any longer. She'll think you're a quack!" However, God gave me peace and gave me the strength to push past that and do as He wanted me to do. In the end the feeling of obeying God felt wonderful. It was like I could see Him up there smiling at me saying "There you go Angela. One step closer to who I want you to become!"
Recently I heard someone say that everyone says they are willing to sacrifice for the Lord, but they are thinking of sacrificing money, time or their lives. Not that those things are bad, they are not. However, many times (especially in our society) what God is asking us to do is to be different, to do something new. That means standing for Him. I'm not talking about a "I'm in your face" kind of stand. What I mean is standing for Him in such as way that others will see you as foolish. Standing for Him in a way that humbles you, because you have totally set aside your pride and are concerning yourself with what He wants, not how others will see you. Does that make sense?
1 Corinthian 1:18 - 20
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1 Corinthians 3:18-19
Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Fear of the Lord - My Thoughts
As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I’m starting to believe that the Fear of the Lord is one of the keys to a truly intimate relationship with the Lord. If you can get to where you truly understand this as God intended us to, you will be able to walk with the Lord and your desires will start to line up with His.
So I’m going to keep pursuing this. So far, I’ve not really answered my questions. Instead I’m just fanning the flames of my desire to know God more and delve in deeper. I guess in the end that is how it is supposed to work anyway. God created us to desire romance and He wants us to love Him and pursue Him as He has done with us.
So the chase is on!
Someone mentioned recently that Jesus was very clear that He only did what the Father told Him to do. But do you notice that unlike us He did not have to plead with God constantly to show Him the answer, to tell Him what the right path was? He was so in tune with God, that He knew what God wanted without all the pleading we do.
Now I’m not saying that we should stop asking God for guidance and to speak to us. What I’m saying is my goal is to become so intimate with God that hopefully one day I won’t have to plead with Him to reveal Himself to me anymore. It will be a constant connection. That is what God desires with us, we just get distracted and disconnect.
Now I know you may be saying, “But Jesus was God, so of course He knew what the Father wanted Him to do.” But I believe scripture tells us that although Jesus is God, He is also distinct. It is hard for us to wrap our minds around that concept, but if we could easily do so, we would be able to know the thoughts of God and personally I prefer a God who is much smarter and more capable than myself!
Jesus humbled Himself when He came to earth and while He was God, He was also man. He said we would do greater works than Him when the Helper came (Holy Spirit). So why not this as well? Now I’m not saying I’ll ever get to this point, but it doesn’t hurt to dive in and try to get that close to God.
The other day when we were talking about the Fear of the Lord at my house church I wrote these words and this verse in my notebook that I’m going to share with all of you today. In the coming days I’ll share more scriptures, but if you are interested I encourage you to get a concordance and start looking up the fear of the Lord yourselves.
So I’m going to keep pursuing this. So far, I’ve not really answered my questions. Instead I’m just fanning the flames of my desire to know God more and delve in deeper. I guess in the end that is how it is supposed to work anyway. God created us to desire romance and He wants us to love Him and pursue Him as He has done with us.
So the chase is on!
Someone mentioned recently that Jesus was very clear that He only did what the Father told Him to do. But do you notice that unlike us He did not have to plead with God constantly to show Him the answer, to tell Him what the right path was? He was so in tune with God, that He knew what God wanted without all the pleading we do.
Now I’m not saying that we should stop asking God for guidance and to speak to us. What I’m saying is my goal is to become so intimate with God that hopefully one day I won’t have to plead with Him to reveal Himself to me anymore. It will be a constant connection. That is what God desires with us, we just get distracted and disconnect.
Now I know you may be saying, “But Jesus was God, so of course He knew what the Father wanted Him to do.” But I believe scripture tells us that although Jesus is God, He is also distinct. It is hard for us to wrap our minds around that concept, but if we could easily do so, we would be able to know the thoughts of God and personally I prefer a God who is much smarter and more capable than myself!
Jesus humbled Himself when He came to earth and while He was God, He was also man. He said we would do greater works than Him when the Helper came (Holy Spirit). So why not this as well? Now I’m not saying I’ll ever get to this point, but it doesn’t hurt to dive in and try to get that close to God.
The other day when we were talking about the Fear of the Lord at my house church I wrote these words and this verse in my notebook that I’m going to share with all of you today. In the coming days I’ll share more scriptures, but if you are interested I encourage you to get a concordance and start looking up the fear of the Lord yourselves.
Seek out, cry out for the fear of the Lord!
Proverbs 2: 3-5“. . . and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”
Monday, September 24, 2007
Righteousness and Fear of the Lord
Recently I’ve started meeting with one of the other women in my house church on a weekly basis for what we call an LTG (Life Transformation Group). It is basically like an accountability partner. We meet weekly to talk about anything we need prayer for, to get to know one another better and to discuss our Bible reading, amoung other things.
One thing the two of us have been discussing lately, is the true meaning of things we’ve heard all our lives. Do we truly understand them? For example, one thing we both talked about was righteousness. We’ve heard this word all our lives in church, but do we really know exactly what this means? What does being righteous entail? Is there a difference between how man defines this and God?
That has led us both in a search to better understand righteousness based on God’s word and we are both delving into this and sharing each week what we’ve come up with based on our Bible study and prayer time with God.
At the same time, our house church has started a search we believe is related. As we were discussing things with the children, one of them asked what the “Fear of the Lord” was and none of us had a real good answer. We decided we would all do some searching and share what we deteremined the next week. We came up with lots of good stuff and determined in the end that we still do not fully understand it, but we do believe it is the key to truly knowing the Lord and walking in His ways.
I believe these two concepts go hand in hand. I’m not exactly sure how yet, but I believe they are related: Righteousness and the Fear of the Lord.
Many of the verses we found regarding the Fear of the Lord were in Psalms and Proverbs. There were also other scattered throughout the Bible as well. I’ll share some of the verses with you shortly. If you have any comments of your own I would love to hear them!
One thing the two of us have been discussing lately, is the true meaning of things we’ve heard all our lives. Do we truly understand them? For example, one thing we both talked about was righteousness. We’ve heard this word all our lives in church, but do we really know exactly what this means? What does being righteous entail? Is there a difference between how man defines this and God?
That has led us both in a search to better understand righteousness based on God’s word and we are both delving into this and sharing each week what we’ve come up with based on our Bible study and prayer time with God.
At the same time, our house church has started a search we believe is related. As we were discussing things with the children, one of them asked what the “Fear of the Lord” was and none of us had a real good answer. We decided we would all do some searching and share what we deteremined the next week. We came up with lots of good stuff and determined in the end that we still do not fully understand it, but we do believe it is the key to truly knowing the Lord and walking in His ways.
I believe these two concepts go hand in hand. I’m not exactly sure how yet, but I believe they are related: Righteousness and the Fear of the Lord.
Many of the verses we found regarding the Fear of the Lord were in Psalms and Proverbs. There were also other scattered throughout the Bible as well. I’ll share some of the verses with you shortly. If you have any comments of your own I would love to hear them!
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Tired & Stressed
So, it is once again quarter end and this is my most stressful one yet. This is my third quarter end (I've been there 6 1/2 months now) and the acquisitions are coming like crazy. I like what I'm doing but currently I have more on my plate than can be done by one person. I put in 14 hours yesterday (Saturday), 10 1/2 today and will be working tomorrow (Labor Day). I knew this was coming but it is still very overwhelming when I figure out what needs to be done and how much time I have to do it in.
But the good news is, we can learn something new in all these experiences. I'm learning to rely on God and not so much on myself. For once, there is absolutely no way I can do what is needed in my own power and I'm learning to let go. I'm learning to put my focus on my Lord and rely on Him to get me through the day. I am starting to get a glimpse of what it means to do all things through Him.
I'm very tired right now as I write this, but while the stress is still there I am not overwhelmed. My house church prayed for me last Tuesday because I was near a breakdown. Since then, God has been good to remind me where my focus should be when I start to get overwhelmed. He'll send me little things such as a meeting or an email through a friend which reminds me that this work is not what life is all about. The most important thing is for me to walk with Him in all I do.
I'm so thankful that God is so gracious and that He cares enough to use this time which could be very overwhelming to be a time of getting to know Him better and even a time of peace.
But the good news is, we can learn something new in all these experiences. I'm learning to rely on God and not so much on myself. For once, there is absolutely no way I can do what is needed in my own power and I'm learning to let go. I'm learning to put my focus on my Lord and rely on Him to get me through the day. I am starting to get a glimpse of what it means to do all things through Him.
I'm very tired right now as I write this, but while the stress is still there I am not overwhelmed. My house church prayed for me last Tuesday because I was near a breakdown. Since then, God has been good to remind me where my focus should be when I start to get overwhelmed. He'll send me little things such as a meeting or an email through a friend which reminds me that this work is not what life is all about. The most important thing is for me to walk with Him in all I do.
I'm so thankful that God is so gracious and that He cares enough to use this time which could be very overwhelming to be a time of getting to know Him better and even a time of peace.
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