Excuses...

Haven't posted much at all this month. It's been a not so good month and I have slipped at my little writing project.

I had surgery! I no longer have an appendix. I am losing body parts. And I probably have another surgery coming up later this year. (Which I am not looking forward to at all.) September 6th is going to be a big medical day for me - I have two different doctor appointments and hopefully will find out more about what is going on then.

I thought I knew what it meant to trust and depend on God. I am learning that I haven't fully understood what it means to trust - to truly trust God. Trust is the opposite of worry. I am getting a really good lesson in trust.

6. Teach The Word

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:2 NIV84)

Preach the Word - An instruction given to all. I have been given the job of sharing the Word with others. We all have once we decide to follow Christ. He is our role model. He taught others. I am to do the same.

Be prepared - Whether I think I am ready or not, I am to be always prepared to share the Good News with others.

Correct, rebuke, and encourage - I love to encourage others, to cheer them on, to point out the positive things in their life! 'Positive and Encouraging' is one of my favorite mottos. I'm not so sure that I have the same enthusiasm for correcting and rebuking others. Hmmm. But if I see someone i know doing something wrong, I hope that I can gently correct them.
Guess this is a verse I need to think on. When does correcting and rebuking become pointing out a speck in someone's eye when there is a plank in mine? The Bible says do one and don't do the other. See, I've just proven that I still have a lot to learn.

Great patience & careful instruction - Grace, grace, patience, and grace. One huge lesson God keeps having to teach me is have grace. I pray that I might have the grace needed to share God's word with patience and careful instruction.

So glad that God has had the grace and great patience needed to put up with me as I learn what His word says.

Made Clean by the Word

Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church-a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ's love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. (Ephesians 5:25-27 MSG)

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27 KJV)

Christ referred to Himself as the living water. As such He is able to cleanse us deeply. We are not merely cleansed outwardly. No, Christ cleanses us on the inside first, beginning with our hearts. And as our hearts and souls are changed this cleansing begins to be reflected on our outsides. We are made clean. We are purified. And Christ presents us to God forgiven by His death, living by His resurrection, and cleansed by His word.