"Mary sat at Jesus' feet listening to what he taught. But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing..." Luke 10:38
While Martha was stressing over all the details of the dinner and being upset that Mary wasn't helping, Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to him. What Martha was doing was good, but Mary had found what was truly most important.
We could all learn something from Mary in this story. Instead of stressing and worrying so much about every little thing in our lives as we so often do, sometimes we need to STOP and just sit at the feet of Jesus.
Sometimes we just need to hit the pause button on life. We need to take a break from the "busyness" of our lives to listen to his voice, to hear what he is teaching us, to worship at his feet, and to just BE in his presence.
If you find yourself constantly worrying and stressing about things, come to Jesus. Sit at his feet. Listen to his voice. Spend time in the presence of your Savior. In His presence, there is peace, joy, and rest.
Be a worshipper, not a worrier!
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Give It Up For Him
"If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambitions, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it, but if you give up your life for me, you will find true life." Luke 9:23-24
TRUE life is found in Jesus, not in trying to keep our lives and live them just for ourselves.
Being a true follower of Jesus requires sacrifice; it requires us to give up ourselves and our selfish desires. Life is NOT all about us, and when we realize that we will find true satisfaction.
Life is all about Him, and only in giving ourselves to completely to Christ, doing everything for HIS glory and living for HIS pleasure, will we find true life. It's not an easy thing to do to, but we have the power of God's Holy Spirit in us to help us.
Ask him to help you to live for Him wholeheartedly!
TRUE life is found in Jesus, not in trying to keep our lives and live them just for ourselves.
Being a true follower of Jesus requires sacrifice; it requires us to give up ourselves and our selfish desires. Life is NOT all about us, and when we realize that we will find true satisfaction.
Life is all about Him, and only in giving ourselves to completely to Christ, doing everything for HIS glory and living for HIS pleasure, will we find true life. It's not an easy thing to do to, but we have the power of God's Holy Spirit in us to help us.
Ask him to help you to live for Him wholeheartedly!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
What Are You Pursuing?
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossions 3:2
We spend so much time on Earth pursuing things that have no lasting significance.
How much time to we spend watching TV, or Facebooking, or chasing after pleasure and more money and more "stuff"?
I love fitness, and I love lifting weights and being strong. I love being lean and muscular. Those things are all good things, but pursuing those things takes up so much of my time, when really, they have no eternal significance. When I get to Heaven, it's not going to matter how lean and muscular I was on Earth, or how much I could squat or deadlift.
What we should be pursuing above anything is Christ. Drawing closer to Him, spending more time with Him, reading and applying His word to our life, serving Him, following Him. Those are the things that matter.
I know there some things I need to change in my life in order to draw closer to Him:
*Devotional first thing in the morning, before Facebook or blogging.
*Go to be earlier to read some scriptures before bed every night.
*Devote a few minutes of my day to read His word and spend time in prayer, without distractions.
*Less time on Facebook/blogger during the day.
What are some things you could do to pursue a relationship with God above all else?
We spend so much time on Earth pursuing things that have no lasting significance.
How much time to we spend watching TV, or Facebooking, or chasing after pleasure and more money and more "stuff"?
I love fitness, and I love lifting weights and being strong. I love being lean and muscular. Those things are all good things, but pursuing those things takes up so much of my time, when really, they have no eternal significance. When I get to Heaven, it's not going to matter how lean and muscular I was on Earth, or how much I could squat or deadlift.
What we should be pursuing above anything is Christ. Drawing closer to Him, spending more time with Him, reading and applying His word to our life, serving Him, following Him. Those are the things that matter.
I know there some things I need to change in my life in order to draw closer to Him:
*Devotional first thing in the morning, before Facebook or blogging.
*Go to be earlier to read some scriptures before bed every night.
*Devote a few minutes of my day to read His word and spend time in prayer, without distractions.
*Less time on Facebook/blogger during the day.
What are some things you could do to pursue a relationship with God above all else?
Why Waste Your Time?
Don't weary yourself trying to get rich. Why waste your time? For riches can disappear as though they had the wings of a bird!
-Proverbs 23:4-5
Our goal in life should not just be chasing after money or material things. At any moment, as I have experienced myself, those things can be taken from us. And then what will we be left with? Nothing. Nothing but our faith. We cannot take our "riches" with us to Heaven, so striving after them for our own pleasure and satisfaction is a waste of time. Instead, we are to seek after those things that have eternal significance: obeying, loving and serving God!
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Complete.
"When you have Christ, you are complete."
-Colossions 2:10
Fulfillment comes from Christ alone.
Only in Him will we find true joy and satisfaction. It doesn't come through money, fame, success, looks, clothes, or food. If you are searching for fulfillment in those things, you will be disappointed. You will be left empty and longing for more.
How do we find true fulfillment? By giving our lives to Christ, by surrendering to Him, by pursuing a relationship with Him. He wants to bless us and give us peace and joy more than we could ever know, and He will give us that- if we would only give ourselves completely to Him, if we would only love Him with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Your Heart's Desires
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires.
-Psalm 37:4
I was on my way home from work the other day, and I was praying for my husband and for his desires to be fulfilled and for him to be truly happy in all that he does. I started thinking about how much I want his happiness more than anything and how happy it makes ME to see HIM happy!
Then it dawned on me that this is the way God feels about US! If God loves us so much more than even I could ever love my husband, then how much more does he want us, His children, to be happy? He WANTS our desires to come to pass. He WANTS us to be happy and fulfilled!
Sometimes we get caught up in the things we have to DO for God, like the more we do the better Christians we are, when really that is not the case. Living for Him isn't about a list of "to-dos", it's about having a relationship with Him, and then out of that everything will flow! As our relationship with Him deepens, our words, our actions, our behaviors will reflect the love of God. All He wants us to do is to know Him and to DELIGHT(take pleasure/find satisfaction) in Him!
The more we know Him, follow His ways, and understand and live out His will, the more joyful and satisfied we will be, and that is how God intended it! When we DELIGHT in Him, we will want to obey and live for Him. And that is when true blessing comes. That is when our heart's desires will come to pass because they will line up with what God wants for our lives.
God wants our dreams and desires to come to pass, but only those things that line up with His will. If we are only seeking our own selfish pleasure and satisfaction at the neglect of others or our relationship with Christ, we will find ourselves unhappy. Only in living for God and pursuing HIS will, will we find true joy and contentment!
-Psalm 37:4
I was on my way home from work the other day, and I was praying for my husband and for his desires to be fulfilled and for him to be truly happy in all that he does. I started thinking about how much I want his happiness more than anything and how happy it makes ME to see HIM happy!
Then it dawned on me that this is the way God feels about US! If God loves us so much more than even I could ever love my husband, then how much more does he want us, His children, to be happy? He WANTS our desires to come to pass. He WANTS us to be happy and fulfilled!
Sometimes we get caught up in the things we have to DO for God, like the more we do the better Christians we are, when really that is not the case. Living for Him isn't about a list of "to-dos", it's about having a relationship with Him, and then out of that everything will flow! As our relationship with Him deepens, our words, our actions, our behaviors will reflect the love of God. All He wants us to do is to know Him and to DELIGHT(take pleasure/find satisfaction) in Him!
The more we know Him, follow His ways, and understand and live out His will, the more joyful and satisfied we will be, and that is how God intended it! When we DELIGHT in Him, we will want to obey and live for Him. And that is when true blessing comes. That is when our heart's desires will come to pass because they will line up with what God wants for our lives.
God wants our dreams and desires to come to pass, but only those things that line up with His will. If we are only seeking our own selfish pleasure and satisfaction at the neglect of others or our relationship with Christ, we will find ourselves unhappy. Only in living for God and pursuing HIS will, will we find true joy and contentment!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Why Not?
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 1 peter 4:12
When something bad happens to us, the first thing many of us have the tendency to say is, "Why me?"
I lost my Dad to cancer 7 years ago, my husband went through brain cancer, and I just recently came close to losing my mom in a bad car accident. I will admit that there have been many times when I have asked God the question, "Why?"
When, really, if you think about it, why not? Bad things happen, it's just a part of life. As Christians, we are not exempt. No one is.
As I grow stronger in my faith and closer in my relationship to God, I now know that there is a reason for everything that happens to us, both the good and the bad. Trials will come our way, but what matters is how we deal with them, what we will learn from them, and how we will use them to bring glory and honor to God.
We can be sad and depressed and feel sorry for ourselves and get mad at God....or we can choose to use our trials and tribulations as opportunuties for growth. There is always something to learn from each and every experience that we go through. Our struggles make us stronger, they teach us, they build our character, and they teach us patience.
And I think most importantly, they force us to draw closer to God, to trust in Him, and to truly know what it means to depend fully and completely on Him.
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. -
Romans 5: 3-4
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 1 peter 4:12
When something bad happens to us, the first thing many of us have the tendency to say is, "Why me?"
I lost my Dad to cancer 7 years ago, my husband went through brain cancer, and I just recently came close to losing my mom in a bad car accident. I will admit that there have been many times when I have asked God the question, "Why?"
When, really, if you think about it, why not? Bad things happen, it's just a part of life. As Christians, we are not exempt. No one is.
As I grow stronger in my faith and closer in my relationship to God, I now know that there is a reason for everything that happens to us, both the good and the bad. Trials will come our way, but what matters is how we deal with them, what we will learn from them, and how we will use them to bring glory and honor to God.
We can be sad and depressed and feel sorry for ourselves and get mad at God....or we can choose to use our trials and tribulations as opportunuties for growth. There is always something to learn from each and every experience that we go through. Our struggles make us stronger, they teach us, they build our character, and they teach us patience.
And I think most importantly, they force us to draw closer to God, to trust in Him, and to truly know what it means to depend fully and completely on Him.
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. -
Romans 5: 3-4
Monday, January 14, 2013
No Worries
"A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses.”-Jesus
I was thinking the other day: why do we always want MORE when we already have SO much?
God has blessed me beyond measure, with more than I need, and yet I still find myself worrying sometimes about things like money and clothes and food. Then I think about the people out there who don’t have even HALF of what I have; that actually, MOST of the world doesn’t have near what I have. And I feel self-conscious about not having the trendiest clothes, the cutest shoes, or the best haircut???
Sometimes the things that consume our minds are SO not even what really matters. I want to set my sights on Heaven, not the silly things that distract us down here on Earth!
Sometimes the things that consume our minds are SO not even what really matters. I want to set my sights on Heaven, not the silly things that distract us down here on Earth!
-Matthew 6:25-27
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
It Changes Everything
Believing in Christ and knowing Christ are not the same; saying you're a Christian and having a relationship with Jesus are two completely different things.
Having a relationship with Him changes everything.
It changes the way you think.
It changes the way you talk.
It changes the things you pursue.
It changes the things you pursue.
It changes your mindset.
It changes your perspective.
It changes the way you act.
It changes your priorities.
It changes what you value.
It changes your attitude.
It changes your life.
If you don't see a change in your life, if you are no different than those around you who don't know Christ, I sincerely doubt that you have relationship with Him. If you KNOW Christ and are growing closer to Him each day, then your behavior and attitude will be a reflection of that.
It changes your life.
If you don't see a change in your life, if you are no different than those around you who don't know Christ, I sincerely doubt that you have relationship with Him. If you KNOW Christ and are growing closer to Him each day, then your behavior and attitude will be a reflection of that.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. -Romans 12:2
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