"The king said to me, 'What is it you want?' Then I prayed to the God of heaven,..."
Nehemiah's heart was grieved by the state of Judah and Jerusalem, and all of chapter 1 is a prayer from his heart to the Lord. He is filled with love for the land, and he mourns for the people of it, and confesses not only their sins, but his as well. Nehemiah prays for redemption and success.
In the presence of the king, however, he is still saddened by this, and the king notices. I love that this is such a true emotion in Nehemiah--it isn't simple a fleeting feeling toward the city, but an honest burden that weighs heavily on him, to where he can do nothing but pray.
The king inquires of Nehemiah's desires, and BEFORE ANSWERING, Nehemiah PRAYS. I'm not even commenting on verse 5 for that exact reason. The Lord impacted my heart so heavily with that one realization: With all that is going on in his heart, with all the burden and grief, and with the king ready to give him what he wants, Nehemiah's FIRST point of action is to look to the Lord.
My prayer is that this would be my heart. I can't trust myself with my own desires--if I were ever to be asked what I wanted, I would hope my first choice would be to pray first and seek what GOD would want me to want.
His desires over mine. That's what the Lord has shown me in this verse. His desires aren't just better than ours, but they should be ours. We should want what He does, hate what He hates, love what He loves, instead of seeing Him as a far-off entity that doesn't communicate with His children. He is omnipresent, and is beckoning for us to come to Him with ANYTHING and EVERYTHING, so we need to utilize that in love. Instead of treating Him like a magical vending machine, we serve Him with everything we have. We look to Him for the answers, and obey His commands, because we love Him.
Application is to write pray FIRST on my wrist as a constant reminder that His ways ARE better than mine, and His choice should be the first and only for my life.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Colossians 1:5
"...the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel..." Colossians 1:5
This is where faith and love come from: our hope in Christ. When we have our minds set on Christ, His perfection, promises, and blood that washes us and deems us worthy, the natural result is to have an overflow of faith and love. Faith in Him for all things, and love for not only Him, but for our brothers and sisters. Keeping a single eye set on He Who commands us to love, it's difficult to think about yourself or about anything not glorifying to Him. The Colossians got it right. They're on fire for Christ because of their belief and because they serve wholeheartedly. This is such an inspiration, seeing their success. It's what we're meant to do: We're here to serve, not to be served, and remaining grounded firm in the Lord is the way to do it.
This reminds me of Romans 12 how it talks about our "reasonable response". In that chapter, it's talking about offering ourselves as living sacrifices, as it's our reasonable response to what God's done for us. It's our act of worship. In the same way, when we put our HOPE in CHRIST, the reasonable response to Him is to have increased faith and love in all areas of our life. That's just what happens when we put our hope where it belongs, every single time.
Application is to write "HOPE = FAITH & LOVE" on my wrist as a reminder of what must come first to have faith and love in action in my every day life.
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This is where faith and love come from: our hope in Christ. When we have our minds set on Christ, His perfection, promises, and blood that washes us and deems us worthy, the natural result is to have an overflow of faith and love. Faith in Him for all things, and love for not only Him, but for our brothers and sisters. Keeping a single eye set on He Who commands us to love, it's difficult to think about yourself or about anything not glorifying to Him. The Colossians got it right. They're on fire for Christ because of their belief and because they serve wholeheartedly. This is such an inspiration, seeing their success. It's what we're meant to do: We're here to serve, not to be served, and remaining grounded firm in the Lord is the way to do it.
This reminds me of Romans 12 how it talks about our "reasonable response". In that chapter, it's talking about offering ourselves as living sacrifices, as it's our reasonable response to what God's done for us. It's our act of worship. In the same way, when we put our HOPE in CHRIST, the reasonable response to Him is to have increased faith and love in all areas of our life. That's just what happens when we put our hope where it belongs, every single time.
Application is to write "HOPE = FAITH & LOVE" on my wrist as a reminder of what must come first to have faith and love in action in my every day life.
Monday, April 14, 2014
RE-ENTRY: WEEK 1
This is so incredible!
The mountains covered in snow, the frozen lakes, Montana is absolutely beautiful.
Being back together with my family of IGNITE Class 5 is probably one of the most wonderful feelings on the planet. No walls built, nothing to hide, only people who know you and want to hear everything. People who get it. They understand. The know what's going on.
That makes the re-entry process so much easier--to be with family.
It's hard, because a piece of my heart has been ripped out and left with my kids and family in Guatemala, but it's a kind of cushioning effect coming back and being reunited with other pieces of my heart that had been ripped out in October and sent to Kenya, Uganda, and Costa Rica.
Couldn't be more excited for what the Lord has in store for us this month!
Praise 'im!!
The mountains covered in snow, the frozen lakes, Montana is absolutely beautiful.
Being back together with my family of IGNITE Class 5 is probably one of the most wonderful feelings on the planet. No walls built, nothing to hide, only people who know you and want to hear everything. People who get it. They understand. The know what's going on.
That makes the re-entry process so much easier--to be with family.
It's hard, because a piece of my heart has been ripped out and left with my kids and family in Guatemala, but it's a kind of cushioning effect coming back and being reunited with other pieces of my heart that had been ripped out in October and sent to Kenya, Uganda, and Costa Rica.
Couldn't be more excited for what the Lord has in store for us this month!
Praise 'im!!
Saturday, February 15, 2014
IBS WEEK 16
Proverbs 7
The key verses that stood out to me while reading this were verses 4, 7, & 8. We are to love, appreciate, and respect wisdom, and cherish it as a part of us.
After reading all of chapter 7 over and over again, the weight of it's meaning to me is important. There is not so much focus on the adulteress--that's not the main point. Sinners will always be there, as will temptation, but we're not to focus on that in life. We're not to focus on the woman in this passage. My focus is on the man going to her house. He is describes as a youth who lacked judgement. He may or may not have intentionally desired to meet her, but because of his lack of wisdom and judgement, he ended up in the area where he will be tempted.
Verse 25 says to not stray into her paths, which amplifies what the man has done. This is good for me to read, because I have a tendency to end up in areas or situations that have the possibility of tempting me.
My application is to put verse 25 in my concordance under "Life", as a reminder to not allow myself, my heart, or my thoughts stray into areas that would allow myself to be tempted.
The key verses that stood out to me while reading this were verses 4, 7, & 8. We are to love, appreciate, and respect wisdom, and cherish it as a part of us.
After reading all of chapter 7 over and over again, the weight of it's meaning to me is important. There is not so much focus on the adulteress--that's not the main point. Sinners will always be there, as will temptation, but we're not to focus on that in life. We're not to focus on the woman in this passage. My focus is on the man going to her house. He is describes as a youth who lacked judgement. He may or may not have intentionally desired to meet her, but because of his lack of wisdom and judgement, he ended up in the area where he will be tempted.
Verse 25 says to not stray into her paths, which amplifies what the man has done. This is good for me to read, because I have a tendency to end up in areas or situations that have the possibility of tempting me.
My application is to put verse 25 in my concordance under "Life", as a reminder to not allow myself, my heart, or my thoughts stray into areas that would allow myself to be tempted.
IBS WEEK 15
Jonah 1:2
God's desire for all of His people is to come to Him to be saved. Though we turn away, He continues to call to and beckon for us, giving us ways to come back to Him. He could have easily destroyed the Ninevites because of their wickedness, but He instead chose to send Jonah as a messenger to give them a chance to come back to righteousness.
People will ask, "Why does God go through all that trouble? Why didn't He just destroy them? He would have been totally right to do so." The answer is simple: God didn't want to. He loves us! He loves His people, and His desire is for ALL to come to Him, so He'll give us ways out of our sin to see us prosper.
Praise God for His unending second chances!
Application: Put verse in concordance under "Grace".
God's desire for all of His people is to come to Him to be saved. Though we turn away, He continues to call to and beckon for us, giving us ways to come back to Him. He could have easily destroyed the Ninevites because of their wickedness, but He instead chose to send Jonah as a messenger to give them a chance to come back to righteousness.
People will ask, "Why does God go through all that trouble? Why didn't He just destroy them? He would have been totally right to do so." The answer is simple: God didn't want to. He loves us! He loves His people, and His desire is for ALL to come to Him, so He'll give us ways out of our sin to see us prosper.
Praise God for His unending second chances!
Application: Put verse in concordance under "Grace".
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Happy February!
This time is going by so fast! I don't know if I've ever had this much inner conflict before--I want to go back to the States, but at the same time I don't ever want to leave this beautiful place and all of these incredible people.
Lord willing, He'll continue to send me farther and faster than I could imagine, but for now I'm soaking up this place as I should: as if there's no tomorrow.
Spending every day knowing tomorrow isn't promised.
Jesus rules!
Lord willing, He'll continue to send me farther and faster than I could imagine, but for now I'm soaking up this place as I should: as if there's no tomorrow.
Spending every day knowing tomorrow isn't promised.
Jesus rules!
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