Stockpiling

Stockpiling

My tennis bag is really heavy. I’m ready for runny noses, dry skin, headaches, blazing sun, and sore muscles.  I carry extra racquets, socks, underwear (it’s true), three sets of sunglasses, Band-Aids, knee and wrist braces, lipstick, a can of balls, and two kinds of mosquito repellant. I stockpile stuff to be prepared and to feel confident when I go out to play.

I didn’t realize that collecting all this stuff was an attempt to control life on the courts so that nothing bad could or would happen. But something bad did happen. I broke a tendon running for a ball. At that point, there wasn’t anything I could pull out of my bag for help. What I needed was faith that God would be with me, and He was. I needed His strength and calming ways, which was there in a heartbeat.

It’s good to be prepared, but preparing spiritually is key.  I’ve learned that stockpiling faith experiences to pull out in times of crisis sustain me way more than anything I could physically pull out of a bag.

Build up your faith like it is a bank account. It’ll pay off when a crisis comes your way.

Spiritual Housekeeping

Spiritual Housekeeping

Occasionally when I clean house I get totally disgusted with how much stuff I have. It seems to creep up without me noticing until it’s chokingly out of control. Excess baggage eventually takes me to a breaking point where I start throwing and giving things away so the house becomes manageable again.

The last time this happened, I realized that the bare bones essentials needed in life are: air, water, protection from the elements, and food. These four things take care of our physical selves, but my next line of thinking was: what are the bare bones essentials for our spiritual selves? I came up with these four things:

Prayer

Worship

Bible Study

And Fellowship

Through prayer, our wills soften and bend into conformity with His will.

Through worship our emotions fall into line and are tamed.

Through the study of God’s word, our minds are renewed.

Fellowship reminds us that we are not alone in this journey.

This spiritual refocusing was refreshing! It was like cleaning the closet of my soul; removing the nonessentials.

How’s the spiritual clutter in your life? Consider not just in your physical living space but perhaps more importantly, in your “soulish” space.

Printer Wisdom

Printer Wisdom

I was printing a document this morning and opted to do the printing on both sides, using pages with pre-punched holes. I had many opportunities to mess this up such as:

1) Putting the paper into the printer the wrong way,

  

2) Peeking too soon to see if the back was done,

  

3) Nudging the paper to try and make it feed faster causing it to then jam,

4) Typing in the wrong page numbers thereby printing the wrong pages in the wrong order,

5) Printing way too many of the wrong pages before finding the STOP button,

6) Running out of paper because of all the mistakes resulting in a trip to the store,

7) When the paper would get hung up and would buckle, I’d help it along which REALLY messed things up! When I kept my hands off, it fixed itself… that’s where God came onto the scene.

Every time I would peek, nudge, not pay attention, or interfere, my project got off track. When I’d focus, letting it work itself out and take my hands off of it, things went swimmingly well!

God whispered to me, “There’s a lesson here.”

Do you hear it?

Praying It Through

Praying It Through

Lord.

I can’t quite come to grips with Your overwhelming magnitude and how very small I am in comparison to You.

Because of the size and power discrepancy between us, You can’t possibly be interested in my trivial wants and needs. You have so many other people, places, and events that consume Your time.

Who am I that You should consider my life?

I feel so insignificant when I see Your work on such a grand scale.

“…what is man that You are mindful of him?”

And then I remember the lost lamb and the dying sparrow.

I recall the wine at the wedding.

You know the number of hairs on my head and where the lost coin was to be found.

Consider the lilies.

You are the God of details- the universe’s undulations and my own.

God, You are ever present. You are in everything.

Forgive me for making you so very small.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father’s will…Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:29-31

Missed Opportunity

This posting was written by Mighty Warrior, Lisa Anderson. 
Lisa attended class this session and is beloved of God. She is complete in Christ, and has all the power over all assaults of the enemy!  Not only that, she is a fine writer, and the apple of His eye, wouldn't you agree?  Thank you, Lisa.

Missed Opportunity

I failed.  I failed to speak and proclaim the goodness of God in my life.  

We had a baby play date with some friends that do not go to church today.  While we were eating one of the mommies was talking about how she had starting introducing dairy back into her diet again.  She had stopped eating it as she was breastfeeding and it was causing issues for her little boy.

I was busy eating orzo with some crumbled cheese in it when I started to think about how the Lord has healed me from lactose intolerance.  For years I would get stomach issues after eating a piece of pizza, ice cream, cereal – you name it. I had learned to adjust to it.  Lactaid pills were always with me, and if they weren’t I avoided eating dairy.  

Then last year my husband said we need to pray about this.  Guess what, the Lord answered our prayer.  Now I can eat pizza with no fear of stomach aches.  I drink glasses of milk just because it sounds good and I will eat a slice of cheese with no problems. 

Praise Him. 

But why couldn’t I tell my friends what He has done?  By the time I realized what the Lord has really done in answering our prayers there was a quiet lull in the conversation and it was on to a new subject.

I spent the next few minutes thinking about the following verse:

Matthew 10:32

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven”

I failed Lord.  I pray for your forgiveness and the words and boldness to proclaim your goodness any chance I get.  

Psalm 71:8

“Let my mouth be filled with Your praise, And with Your glory all the day”

I wait expectantly for the next opportunity to shout His praises.  His mercy is never ending over me and I hold on to the promise in Philippians 1:6.  “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Joy

Nehemiah 8:10f- “…the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Joy is more than “whoopty doo”.  Joy is also very different from happiness. Joy is our stability in the midst of any and all circumstances. Joy is the thing that will sustain us and carry us through difficult situations.

While in prison awaiting trial, Paul was kept strong; rooted and grounded in the Lord because of joy. (Philippians 1: 3-4).  How is that possible? It’s possible because the joy of the Lord affects the mind. It then trickles down to your body making you vibrant, well, and yielded to God. (Proverbs 17:22-NAS).

Joy is the result (fruit) of the Spirit living within us if Jesus has been made the Lord of our lives.  Since God has planted His very nature in us, our job is to walk in that joy and to develop it by exercising it in our lives. We do that by prayer and building our relationship with God.

Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

(John 16:24b). Ask! Get to know God and His word. Praise God in spite of your circumstances. Allow the Lord to transform your life through joy.