First Things First - Christine Caine

I shared my testimony this morning in my LifeGroup at Church.  I admitted that one of my big problems before Christ was my tendency to make really bad choices.  Part of my Christian walk has been learning how to make good choices.

I came across this list today of good tips to choose.  I've printed this out and plan to put it on my wall at work.  Love #8 - I choose to mostly eat healthy.  Cause, you know, ya gotta have some chocolate cake every once in a while!



First Things First - Christine Caine



I love Christine Caine - she is such an inspiration to me!
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His work - His people

Eight words thunder in our souls: Without you, we can't; without us, you won't. You have chosen to do your work through your people. --Lloyd John Ogilvie from "For They Shall Be Fed"

Without God, we can't experience the life we were created to live. Without God, our motivation to help the needy becomes self-serving rather than God serving.

Without us, God won't. I've had to think about this for a while. One thing I have learned from being involved with recovery ministry is that God uses people to make a difference in other people's lives. God puts people in our lives at specific times for specific purposes. I am awe-struck when I realize that He has used me to touch the life of another. Amazing that He uses me for His purposes. I am absolutely humbled by that.

God also does this in big ways, which is really what the quote above is referencing. In times of disaster or need, God's people and God's church have stepped in to fill a need and to help in a crisis. The church is often able to help in ways that government programs and individuals can't. When God's people come together to do something with God and for God, mountains get moved, red tape gets cut, and action is taken.

God doesn't exactly need us but isn't it wonderful that He has chosen to use us anyway!
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Prayer

How do I talk to God? Well, there are a couple of important things to note first. I believe that God wants a close relationship with each one of His children. (And we are all His children, His creations.) I also believe that God already knows. There is nothing that I can share with God about myself that He doesn't already know but yet, He wants me to come to Him with my stuff.

So I go to the One who Knows me and the One who wants me close to Him with my life. Over the last few months, I have shared frustrations, confusion, and fear with Him. During my drive to & from work, I complain and explain and attempt to reason out life with God who is much more patient with me than I will ever deserve. And I tell Him that I trust Him even though I don't understand. I believe that His way is better even when I can't see how.

To me, prayer - talking with God - also includes simply listening. Being still and knowing that He is God. I have difficulty with silence - a thousand random things can suddenly float through my head at once. I'm learning that in the silence is when God speaks back to me. One of my goals for 2014 is to spend more time simply listening and simply obeying God without making things all complicated.

I love about reading through the Psalms and there is such a great example of prayer found in many of them. David expresses strong emotions - fear, anger, weakness, groaning, despair, grief. He pretty much lays it all out - "Here is what I'm dealing with now." And then he turns it all to God. Almost every Psalm ends with expressions of faith, praise, or thankfulness to the One whom David believes is bigger and stronger. I try to read a different Psalm each night and often use them as my own prayer because I so identify with them. It is a good way to end the day.

The Question of Serving

Joshua 24:15 -Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the regions beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

A brand new year and it is a time of making resolutions, decisions, and plans which will we hope will guide us well through the next 12 months. 

Joshua and the Israelites faced just such a time as they prepared to enter the promised land to begin a new life there.  Joshua asked the people to make a decision.  Whom will you serve?  Will you serve the gods of the past?  Will you serve the gods you will encounter in the near future?  Or will you serve the Lord God who is here with you now - the God who has led you out of bondage and guided you to freedom?

Today is an excellent time to ask ourselves the same question.  Whom will I serve? 

Will I serve the things of the past?  Will I be unwilling to face new challenges and to embrace new ideas?  We serve the past when we continue to stubbornly do things the way they have always been done simply because that's how they've always been done.  We serve the past as we hang on to ideas, habits, and thoughts which have outlived their usefulness.  When we live life by looking backwards, when we are resistant to new and different, then we are serving the past.  Serving the past makes us stagnant, stale, and boring.

Will I serve only the new things?  Will I always be chasing after the newest, shiniest, and hottest new thing?  Will I live life hopping from one hot new fad to another?  Will I ignore past lessons learned?  Will the pursuit of more money, more prestige, and more stuff be the theme of my life this year?  We live in a culture that values having more and our self-worth can become wrapped up in trying to achieve that dream of the nice house in the right neighborhood with a new car parked in the drive.  We live in a culture that promotes tolerance over true faith, relativity over truth, and trendy over sensible.  Serving this causes us to miss the blessings of today and leads to dissatisfaction.

Will I serve the God who is?  God is an unchanging constant.  He was there as the Israelites left Egypt and He is still a real presence in the lives of His people today,  He has promised His people a future life living within His glory.  He is the Lord of now.  His very name, I AM, signifies that He is the one who is living and active today.  He is grace, mercy, peace, and joy.  He longs to give those things to me.  He forgives.  He wipes away sin and makes all things new.  Serving God changes hearts and lives.

On this start of a brand new year, I ask myself, "Whom will I serve?"  Like Joshua, my answer is that I will serve the Lord.

Four Accounts, One Savior

 The Reason for the Season - There was a little baby born in Bethlehem.  They named him Jesus.  He came to change the world.

Four Accounts, One Savior
"Four different Gospel accounts and one conclusion—Jesus is sufficient. Intellectually, according to Matthew, the Christmas story is rooted in history. Morally, according to Mark, the Christmas story requires our repentance. Emotionally, according to Luke, the Christmas story invites our worship. And relationally, according to John, the Christmas story restores our relationship with God."

 I continue to be impressed and amazed at how cohesive and complete Scripture is.  God's Word was written to touch our lives in every way possible.  I love how He does that!!

A Child of God

     Who are you? Who am I? This is a fundamental question that molds our view of how we see the world, our community, and ourselves. Songs, poems, books, and even small group curriculum have been written in an attempt to answer the question. Who am I?
     Often, we will answer that question by the people around us. I’m a wife, I’m a mother, a husband or father. I’m a daughter, a sister, a son, a brother, a friend. We answer by our jobs – I’m a teacher, a doctor, a homemaker, or any other occupation. Some identify by the things that have happened to them in their past – I’m a victim, a survivor, etc.

Have you ever thought about who God says you are? 

Our faith defines us as a Christian. But what else? 

     When we turn our lives over to God, He changes who we are. He gives us new identities simply because He loves us and He wants to mold us to His plans.
     You may have heard the song by Matthew West which starts with the words, "Hello my name is Regret". The enemy loves to whisper words into our lives – lies that too often we believe. And those lies hold us back and prevent us from experiencing life God’s way. Those lies can be defeated by truth. Truth is found in the song’s chorus. "Hello, my name is child of the one true God."
     We are children of God. I am a child of God. Take a look at John 1:12-13.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

     When we believe and turn our hearts to Him, we are given new life; we are born again. This is not a physical birth, it is a spiritual birth. We are born of God and at that moment of rebirth we are given the right to call ourselves Children of God.

So what does it mean to be a child of God? 

     In many ways, I think it is a lot like, well, like being a child. I think sometimes we grow up too much and we forget what it was like to be a child. And we don’t consider that this is how God sees us – as a much beloved child of His.

     Have you ever walked through the preschool area after church as parents are coming to pick up their children? It is a scene of organized, mass chaos as children run out with big grins, eager to show off a picture they colored or a lesson they learned. You’ll see parents scooping up their child with a hug and words of encouragement. This is how God wants us, His children to run to Him.
     Or have you ever attended a middle school or high school choir concert? They are great examples of jubilant worship full of youthful enthusiasm. This is how God wants us, His children, to shout joyfully to Him.

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.  Psalm 100:1

     Another lesson we can learn from the children around us is to be an imitator. One of my favorite childhood memories involves riding in the pick-up with my Dad. He would wave to people he knew as he drove by. Daddy did this funny little three-finger wave thing. I remember watching him and then practicing the move myself over and over. I so wanted to wave like my Daddy did. Matter of fact, I very much wanted to be just like him.
     As beloved children of God, we should want to be like God our Father.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.  Ephesians 5:1-2. 

     We are imitators of God as we walk in love. We have the wonderful example of Christ to follow. The Bible is filled with lessons that point us towards how to be like Him. We have the examples of those who have gone before us. As we learn what it means to live as a child of God, we are able to be examples to others. I know that there are women at my church that I look up to and whom I try to emulate because their Christian walk is so strong and I want to be like them. It is one reason that small groups are important. We may all be at different places in our walk and we have much to teach one another.

     Children also have a desire to grow up. Six year olds look forward to being ten year olds. Teenagers tend to think they are grown already. Children realize that they have the potential to be more than they are. A child can totally throw themselves into something. Whether it is sports, music, books, when they find something they are interested in they can become very caught up in it.
     There is a huge lesson here. God’s grace accepts us as we are, with all our sins and imperfections. But God wants us to change. He wants us to desire to be different. God has a plan for each of us and He wants us to be all in on that. It can be scary, especially when God’s plan seems so much different from your own. But once you become a child of God’s, He wants you to grow and He wants to use you. Whatever your life situation, whatever your age, whatever your ability, God will make you much more than you are. Sometimes this means letting go of the familiar and grabbing on to something new!

     Do you know how to make a child happy? Give them a wooden spoon and a metal pot. Or a large, empty box. My husband gave the children next door a cardboard stop sign on a stick. Those kids have spent hours amusing themselves (and us) playing Stop.
     I’ve heard it said that the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. (This is also true for women and girls.) As we get older, seems like we want things to be flashier, or bigger, or more expensive. So we buy smart phones and high-end gadgets, and God says consider the birds and consider the lilies.

 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable ou are than the birds!...Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.  Luke 12:24, 27. 

     We try to find happiness with new cars, new house, new people, and God says learn to be content whatever your circumstances.

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.  Philippians 4:11-13. 

     And finally being a child of God is to be protected and loved. There is a flight of stairs between the parking lot and one entrance of my church. I’ve watched many children run to the top of those stairs, stop, and stick one hand up in the air. To a small child those steps can seem big. They know they need help and they know that if they just reach out, then someone bigger will help them down. They don’t give this a lot of thought, the child just knows that help is close by and much needed.
     God is there for His children also. Do you know one of the most often repeated phrases in the Bible? “Do not fear.” Over three hundred times, God tells His people don’t be afraid. Not necessarily as a command, but as a loving reminder that He is bigger than whatever we are facing and if we will only reach out to Him like a child, then He will grab hold of our hand and help us.

     To be a child of God is to be joyful, to be an imitator, to have a desire to grow, to appreciate the simple, and to be loved.  To be a child of God is to know that, even when life gets scary, God the Father is always with us and He will never leave.

He will not fail you or forsake you.  Deuteronomy 31:6

Piety

Today's word is Piety. I had to look it up. Piety is one of those words I've heard and I kind-of sort-of know what it means. I think. According to Dictionary.com, Piety means "reverence for God or devout fulfillment of religious obligations."

Interesting definition because those two things aren't always the same. Which is one of the things that Jesus talked about a lot. Doing lots of religious things does not mean a person is God-fearing. Going to church every Sunday does not make one a Christian. I fear that too many people practice this sort of piety.

The piety that is a true reverence for God changes lives. And it makes us smarter. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." (Proverbs 9:10)