When God awoke me out of my Christian slumber 2 and 1/2 years ago, He gifted me a hunger and a thirst for His Word, His Truth. (This is a story for another day, as I was driving fast on a very high bridge at the time of such exciting spiritual transformation!) But in a nutshell, He awakened my spirit with a force that was like fire out of Heaven that came down and lit a barren, ashy altar. And He fuels it daily, as I seek Him in His Word and find continued evidence in my life that HE IS REAL. I am writing tonight to give gratitude to God for gifting me with other women who desire to bring the sacrifice of praise to the continuously lit altar of the Lord. Tonight God brought 5 of His servants together and and we offered up to Him the sacrifices of thanksgiving!
Tonight God reminded me that in the Old Testament after Moses and the Israelites built the Temple, they received specific instructions that the priests were to keep the fire burning on the altar by continuously placing wood on it. How diligent they were. Have you received the fire in your spirit, then one day it just burnt out. Why do we allow this to happen to us? We receive God's love, His mercy, His grace and one day, (maybe many days) we forget about His gifts. We forget about the power of the Word. We forget about the intimate blessing of fellowship with Him. And after a while we find ourselves wondering exactly when it happened... when did He take a backseat to all of the physical things in our lives? So much time has passed since we made our lives a living sacrifice to Him.
Well, tonight I was surrounded by others in the royal priesthood of saints who each brought a log with them to place on the altar. It was a sacrifice of praise and fellowship. And it reminded me God has provided us with a never-ending source of fire that will purify every flaw in us; fire that will ignite our God given passions to bring glory to Himself through our lives. All we have to do is supply the kindling, the wood.
When was the last time you brought the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord? When was the last time you honestly presented your life as a living sacrifice unto the Lord? If you're finding yourself where I was and you have let the fire go out, the Lord wants to send a fire down from Heaven and reignite your passion for Him. Praise Him with thanksgiving in your heart.
Hebrews 12:1-2a says, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Tonight, I praise God for the cloud of witnesses that He has surrounded me with that frequently remind me to throw off every weight of the world that I carry and to endure the temptation of sin that so easily ensnares me so that I can run the race that God has set before me. Jesus authored my life; He knew me before the world met Michelle, and He knows when my days on earth will be over. I pray that each day I will bring my wood to the fire and lay my sacrifice of praise on the altar. I pray that through this encouragement, YOU will bring a log and place it on the altar. I pray that each day you and I will hunger and thirst for His Word. I pray that each day I will strive to stand fearlessly in the will of God. I pray that YOU will stand there with me.
We are not, He is.
Michelle
cellophane
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
The Attitude of Rest
Let's be truthful here ~ Being a mom is hard! "Train your children in the way they should go and they will not depart from it". I truly believe this, but the job of training them, even when shared with your husband, is quite challenging. With two boys entering middle school next year and two elementary school-age girls, lately our house has been full of "know-it-alls". This weekend God provided us with a clear snapshot of true training, after whipping us all into shape!
I am reading a book called, I am not, but I know I Am by Lou Giglio and last night's chapter was all about understanding the Sabbath rest. He explains that God didn't order the seventh day to be restful because God himself was weary from creating the universe and everything in it, but to be still and reflect on how great all that He had done was. Keeping the Sabbath holy is actually setting apart the day to take notice of what God has done in our lives during the week leading up to that day. To reflect on, to behold God's power ~ what He did with us, through us, even without us. Doing this will remind us of who God is. Actually practicing this with our families and friends on the Sabbath will honor God with true worship and remind us that God is sovereign, He's real and He works.
My husband and I practiced this tonight at Sunday Linner (lunch/dinner) and it was quite interesting to hear the kids reframe their sentences from "I am thankful that God let US do . . . or let US have . . ." to "I am thankful that God used US to. . . or showed us His power when He . . ." It's all about God, not at all about us or what we've done. Celebrating the Sabbath and keeping it holy is a training of our attitude that should last throughout the week, a shift in perspective. Being grateful for His hand on us and around us. I have heard it said that you can't have a grateful heart and a complaining tongue.
One of my children was having a ton of trouble with murmuring, complaining and backtalking this weekend. His attitude towards the Sabbath rest was a total mess. After trying to correct Him several times, I finally said, "God you've got to help me! I can't get through to him." And then the revelation hit me. "Train him up . . ." Following the list of consequences I reemed out at him, I reached out and held him until he stopped crying and we had a heart-to-heart. You see our sin areas are much the same, as our child argues with his parents, I have been known to fight for my thoughts to be heard as well. What triggers frustration in us is similar, too. God showed me that to truly worship Him on the Sabbath or any day, to truly rest in Him, we've got to have control over the battle in our minds~ between thoughts and feelings, lies and truth.
As part of our children's training, I realized it was important to teach my son this weekend just how to follow God's way of tearing down exalted thoughts that had been controlling his mood with us and towards God. I shared that just like a war has two sides, there are two kinds of thoughts battling one another: The truth planted by God and the lie planted by Satan backed by the persuasion of the world, and they both trigger an emotion. If the emotion we are feeling is provoking us to behave in the opposite manner of the fruits of the Spirit, (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control), then must take captive the thought encouraging such a response. For example, if we feel jealous that someone else was chosen to have a special treat or win the ____ (fill in the blank) we must take captive the thought, "It's not fair" or "they like her better than me". Just like a war prisoner, we must capture the root issue of the thought, measure it against the Word of God. If it doesn't produce good fruit and if it is against the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ then we must cast it out, tear it down. In order to do this right, we've got to battle the lie with truth. For if we simply cast out the lie, we've left an empty space. In our children, we've got to take the time to fill the empty space with something truthful and good or they'll find something else to fill it with, like someone else's opinion.
My son's attitude of resting in God's holiness was restored tonight, not because of the work that I had done but because of the revelation that God brought and the humility practiced by my son. Just one more example of God working in a typical family. Part of our massive job as moms is to correct and edify with Truth. If the hearts and minds of our children are storehouses of Truth, then they will walk with an attitude of rest, resting in the very truth that God works out all things in His sovereign plan through us, with us, and without us. We can rest in the fact that He will accomplish His goals and if we follow His command to train up our children, then we can look forward to watching Him use them as a small piece in His BIG Story. What a great reward!
I am reading a book called, I am not, but I know I Am by Lou Giglio and last night's chapter was all about understanding the Sabbath rest. He explains that God didn't order the seventh day to be restful because God himself was weary from creating the universe and everything in it, but to be still and reflect on how great all that He had done was. Keeping the Sabbath holy is actually setting apart the day to take notice of what God has done in our lives during the week leading up to that day. To reflect on, to behold God's power ~ what He did with us, through us, even without us. Doing this will remind us of who God is. Actually practicing this with our families and friends on the Sabbath will honor God with true worship and remind us that God is sovereign, He's real and He works.
My husband and I practiced this tonight at Sunday Linner (lunch/dinner) and it was quite interesting to hear the kids reframe their sentences from "I am thankful that God let US do . . . or let US have . . ." to "I am thankful that God used US to. . . or showed us His power when He . . ." It's all about God, not at all about us or what we've done. Celebrating the Sabbath and keeping it holy is a training of our attitude that should last throughout the week, a shift in perspective. Being grateful for His hand on us and around us. I have heard it said that you can't have a grateful heart and a complaining tongue.
One of my children was having a ton of trouble with murmuring, complaining and backtalking this weekend. His attitude towards the Sabbath rest was a total mess. After trying to correct Him several times, I finally said, "God you've got to help me! I can't get through to him." And then the revelation hit me. "Train him up . . ." Following the list of consequences I reemed out at him, I reached out and held him until he stopped crying and we had a heart-to-heart. You see our sin areas are much the same, as our child argues with his parents, I have been known to fight for my thoughts to be heard as well. What triggers frustration in us is similar, too. God showed me that to truly worship Him on the Sabbath or any day, to truly rest in Him, we've got to have control over the battle in our minds~ between thoughts and feelings, lies and truth.
As part of our children's training, I realized it was important to teach my son this weekend just how to follow God's way of tearing down exalted thoughts that had been controlling his mood with us and towards God. I shared that just like a war has two sides, there are two kinds of thoughts battling one another: The truth planted by God and the lie planted by Satan backed by the persuasion of the world, and they both trigger an emotion. If the emotion we are feeling is provoking us to behave in the opposite manner of the fruits of the Spirit, (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control), then must take captive the thought encouraging such a response. For example, if we feel jealous that someone else was chosen to have a special treat or win the ____ (fill in the blank) we must take captive the thought, "It's not fair" or "they like her better than me". Just like a war prisoner, we must capture the root issue of the thought, measure it against the Word of God. If it doesn't produce good fruit and if it is against the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ then we must cast it out, tear it down. In order to do this right, we've got to battle the lie with truth. For if we simply cast out the lie, we've left an empty space. In our children, we've got to take the time to fill the empty space with something truthful and good or they'll find something else to fill it with, like someone else's opinion.
My son's attitude of resting in God's holiness was restored tonight, not because of the work that I had done but because of the revelation that God brought and the humility practiced by my son. Just one more example of God working in a typical family. Part of our massive job as moms is to correct and edify with Truth. If the hearts and minds of our children are storehouses of Truth, then they will walk with an attitude of rest, resting in the very truth that God works out all things in His sovereign plan through us, with us, and without us. We can rest in the fact that He will accomplish His goals and if we follow His command to train up our children, then we can look forward to watching Him use them as a small piece in His BIG Story. What a great reward!
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