Love Your Enemies

So as I was trying to figure out what I was going to write about today I read the daily Bible verse I get from Biblegateway.com. The verse today is Matthew 5:43-45"You have heard the law that says, 'Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike."
Sometimes this is a lot easier said than done! I know that when someone wrongs me or is rude to me I don't even want to try to love them, but God calls us to love them anyway. He doesn't just call us to love them but He also tells us to pray for them. If we can do this we will be acting like true children of God. I want to act like a true child of God and I want to show others God, therefore I am going to try and love my enemies and pray for them. I love how the verses go on to say that He sends sunlight and rain to both the good and evil. He act the same to everyone and wants everyone to have a chance to know of His love. If we hate our enemies, how are we showing the love of God to those around us?

Formula Fed?

So when I started blogging again, I intended on blogging daily about what God was saying to me in my quiet time or throughout the day. We can see how well that has been working lol. I have been so busy that I just write in my journal and don't have time to write on here too. Well here is attempt number 2 at writing on here daily. I have been reading in Hebrews for the past few weeks during my quiet time and I really feel like God is speaking to me through this book. Today I read Hebrews 5:11-14, which says, "About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil." I think the writer of Hebrews (who was thought to be Paul) was saying he has a lot to say still but it will be hard to say because they (we) don't listen. I think he is saying by now in our walk with Christ, we should be teaching others but instead many of us are still learning the basics of the gospel. The Message puts it this way, "Yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one--baby's milk." How many of us have ever felt this way? Like we have been a Christian for so long yet we still find ourselves going back to the basics over and over again? God wants us to be growing in our learning and understanding of Him. The only way this is possible is through His Word and prayer. It goes on to basically say that milk is for beginners in faith, the ones who are unskilled in God's ways. Solid food is for the mature it says, the ones who understand and practice the differences between wrong and right. So are we still being fed baby formula in God's eyes or are we eating solid food and learning more and more about the God of the universe daily? I think we can all feel like we are still on the baby food sometimes when we are having a bad day or when we become complacent in our Christianity. I think a lot of times when we stop digging into God's Word daily and stop spending time with Him, we do have to start back at square one. I hope that we can all say that we are taking in solid food and getting closer and closer to Christ everyday.
I hope we can all be teachers of God's Word to others and not just learners of the basics. I believe we will always be learners because there is always more to learn about God's Word but we should get to a point as Christians where we can teach the formula fed.

Thin Places

So I just got finished reading a book called "Thin Places" by Mary DeMuth. This is a great book and really made me realize how blessed I have been in my lifetime. Mary goes through many struggles in her life, some of which include: sexual abuse, pornography addiction, self-worth issues, envy, shame, relationship issues, lake of trust, lust, suicide,not having a stable, caring family, and so many other things. I know we all deal with some of these issues, but I don't know many people who deal with them all. Mary has so much courage to share this story with others. Even though I have not dealt with a lot of the things she has dealt with it gave me insight on some things and also helped me in dealing with some things. Through all the things that happen to Mary she still comes to know God and does not blame herself for the things that have happened in the past. Though you cannot get the jest of the book unless you actually read it yourself, I think it can be partially summed up by this one sentence in the last chapter of her book, "He notices it all, every move, every heartache, every small victory, every leap of faith, every adventure, every bit of drudgery in the mundane." Mary realizes that even though she has gone through all these different things, God has always been there for her.

Girl's Ministry Name

So after a lot of thought, I feel as if DIVAS is not the best name for our Girl’s Ministry. I do not feel as Christian ladies we need to be divas. Even though the acronym DIVAS stood for some great things that I feel God wants us to do in a Girl’s Ministry, I think diva is the opposite of what we need to be. When I think of a diva I think of someone who is all about themselves, someone who is vain and wants everything done their way. As Christian ladies, we should consider others as more important than ourselves (Phil. 2:3) and we shouldn’t worry about our outward appearance (1 Pet 3:3) and most importantly we shouldn’t want things done our way—we should be focused more on pleasing God.
Though I have not thought of a name yet, I found a couple of verses that I really love and think would be good verses for a Girl’s Ministry. 1 Peter 3:3-4 (NLT) says, “Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.” So often we worry all too much about our outward appearance and we forget all about our heart and inward beauty. God wants us to focus on the beauty that is within. I hope we can all realize how important the beauty on the inside is. A way to focus on the beauty inside is to spend more time with God and in His Word. He is the one who makes you beautiful on the inside and when you are beautiful on the inside, it cannot help but to shine out.
If anyone has any good names that would go with these verses, I could really use some help! I have been kicking around some ideas with a few people and we have thought of True Beauty or Unfading Beauty. Girls that go to FBC, let me know what you think about these verses and what they mean and if you think they are something we should be striving for as a Girl’s Ministry (I hope you would say yes to this one but be honest) Well that is all I have to say for now! Hope everyone has had a good day!

Pay Attention

There are many times when we go to church and just go through the motions, never really paying attention to what God is saying through the preacher, Sunday school teacher or youth minister. Do you realize that the Bible says if you don't pay attention to what you have heard, you will drift away? Hebrews 2:1 says, "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." I know many times we may think the sermon may be boring or he/she just isn't saying something I need to know, etc, but realize that God has something to say to you everytime someone is preaching His Word! Maybe it is something for you to tell soemone else or maybe it is something you really need to know. If you aren't paying attention, how will you ever know what it is He is trying to say?

Beautiful

As ladies, how many of us do not struggle with wanting to feel beautiful? I think anyone who says they haven't ever struggled with that is probably full of it. We all want to feel beautiful and loved. This is something I have really been struggling with since I have had Joshua. Feeling beautiful that is. I know that God made me and I am "Fearfully and wonderfully made" (Ps 139:14) But sometimes I don't feel that way. I look at my body and see all the imperfections, all the stretch marks and scars, all the zits and blemishes. Or I look at what is inside, all the worry and doubt, all the fear and anger. God looks past all that though. The Bible says in Psalm 45:11 that " The King is enthralled by your beauty." To me that is so amazing to read! He is enthralled by our beauty. The word entralled means filled with wonder and delight, so it isn't saying He thinks we are ok looking. The King of all the Universe thinks we are beautiful! So anytime Satan tries to bring you down by showing you all your earthly imperfections, just remember what God thinks of you! You are so beautiful in His sight! I hope you start believing it is true because it is! Remember though that no matter how much you believe these verses that Satan will still try to tell you what God is saying isn't true. John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." So don't believe the lies that Satan is telling you when he says you are pretty enough or smart enough because to God we are enough!
Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
If you have any extra time, watch the video below.