Love One Another for love comes from God - 1 John 4:7

When love broke thru

You found me in the darkness

Wanderin' thru the desert

I was a hopeless fool

Now I'm hopelessly devoted

My chains are broken

And it all began with You

Toby Mac "Love Broke Thru"

Toby Mac is speaking the truth about the darkness and hopeless fools.  We need for love to break through in the world today!  Our pillow verse says "love comes from God"...so in essence we need more of God.  He has freely offered us His Spirit (Acts 2:38) but we have chosen independence and cheap thrills instead.

I believe one of the major things in our society that has contributed to its decline is our lack of love for one another.  In some ways I think much of that devaluing began in shows like Saturday Night Live that make fun of people and call it entertainment.  I love this picture of Michelle Obama and George Bush...they CHOSE this moment to exhibit LOVE!

David Brooks wrote a recent article about another family that has chosen love.  They have taken vulnerable teenagers into their home (from homelessness, poverty, sexual abuse) to sit around a dinner table and to crash in their bedrooms.  They have started a charitable foundation called AOK (All Our Kids) to provide hope for young people who have none.  Brooks says about them: "Love is the necessary force" to affect change in these kids and their relationships.  They are making a difference in Washington, D.C.

1 John reminds us that "all love comes from God"...if we have received love, we can choose to give love.  We might just make a difference in the world!  Hope you will vote on November 8th!

For further study:  Psalm 32:10, Proverbs 3:3, Lamentations 3:22, Daniel 9:4, Romans 12:9, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Galatians 6:22, Ephesians 2:4, 2 Thess. 3:5, Jude 21.

Love,

Holly

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS - Phil. 4:4

Lord, I do not honor you merely by

obeying you.  The way to glorify you the most

is to enjoy you.  Help me...to revel in all you are

and have done for me until it awakens joy in my heart.

The Songs of Jesus

Is your joy awake?  Do others see your joy?  Does it take getting what you want to be joyful?  Do you find the circumstances of your life robbing you of joy?

Debra Fileta in RELEVANT MAGAZINE says "there are a few things truly happy people don't ever do."  Do you want to know what they are?

1.  Comparing - "looking at what others have is a recipe for disaster".

2.  Complaining -  "When the enemy tempts you to dwell on all that you don't have, defeat him by praising God for all that He's given".

3.  Competing - "Happy people don't live their life with others as their measuring stick".

4.  Controlling - "Letting go of control only becomes a reality when we grasp the truth that the moment we do, Someone greater takes control."

5.  Criticizing - "People who put others down the most are the ones who are struggling the most within themselves."

Fileta says "Happiness as the world defines it may not always be possible, but no matter where you are in life, you have the ability to choose joy."

I remind myself often that "...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Gal. 5:22-23).  No matter how I try to convince myself otherwise, when I became a believer (July 3, 1981) the Holy Spirit began developing within me His fruit.  How healthy that fruit is depends on how much I depend upon Him.  How are you feeling today?  What are you depending upon today?

For further study:  1 Chron. 16:27, Nehemiah 8:10, Psalm 40:16, Psalm 118:24, Isaiah 55:10-12, Luke 2:10-11, John 15:11, Romans 12:12, 1 Cor. 13:6, James 1:2-4.

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,

Holly

Great is the LORD and most worthy of worship - Ps. 145:3

Do you ever leave a worship service and completely forget being there...or at least take nothing away or not be changed in any way?  It's taken me a lot of years and lot of Spirit-guiding for me to realize that the quality of my worship depends on my view of the LORD.  I particularly love this verse because it reminds me who is great...and it's not me or anything I worship besides Him.

The dictionary definition of worship is "the act of showing respect and love for a god...excessive admiration for someone or something".  The Biblical definition says that God alone is the only person or thing worthy of worship.  I don't have to give a list of the things the world is in awe of...those are the things they worship. Frankly, those are the things that exhaust us.  The Bible says in Deu. 6:5: "Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart...soul...strength".  What are the things that are stealing your heart...your soul...your strength"?

Tim Keller says: "Only through worship are we restored to vigor from the exhaustion and burnout of seeking our own glory".  It is the Spirit of God that renews and fills...anything else we fill our hearts and minds with depletes.  I know that...I am reminded daily that the world is changing, God is not.  His word, which also doesn't change,  tells us that we will find rest in Him alone.

What is depleting you today?  What is restoring you?  Lysa TerKeurst says: "Whatever we worship, we obey."  Who are you obeying today?

For further study:  Deu. 32:3, 1 Chron. 16:25, Psalm 89:1 Psalm 111:10, Matthew 19:17, John 4:24, Hebrews 13:15, 1 Peter 4:10-11, James 5:13

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,
Holly

THY WILL BE DONE - Matt. 6:10

I know you see me

I know you hear me, Lord

Your plans are for me

Goodness you have in store

So, thy will be done

THY WILL   by Hillary Scott

Nothing gives me more hope than knowing God has a plan for my life and it is a good one.  Nothing discourages me more than to think I am in charge of my life.  Hillary Scott has it right to say that life is confusing but not hopeless.  Broken hearts may come into our lives, but as Louie Giglio says, "In ALL things, God works..." (Rom. 8:28).

Jesus, fully human and fully God, knew God's plans were the right plans.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before He was crucified,  He knew that submitting to His Father's will was necessary - oh so hard, but necessary.  We were never intended to live our lives without submitting to the One who created us...who knew us before we were born and does know what is best for us.  He has spoken to us in His word..what a treasure we have before us to listen to.  I love the new "Dare to Listen" campaign...a very necessary step for us to take to begin to communicate to each other about what we are feeling.  But there is One who has been beckoning us for ages...One who is worthy of listening to...worthy of honoring and obeying.

Isaiah 55:6 says "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near".  I fear He will stop speaking to us if we do not respond in faith to His call upon our lives.  Whose will will you do today?

For further study:  Psalm 40:8, 143:10; Isaiah 53:10, Jeremiah 10:12, Matt. 26:39, John 7:17-18, Romans 12:1-2, 2 Cor. 8:12, Eph. 5:17, James 4:15.

Be blessed in the understanding of God's word.

Love,

Holly

"The word of our God stands forever" - Isaiah 40:8

I know I am not the only one who wonders where our world is headed...so much unrest, so much anger, no little value to others.  We have no peace, I believe, because we have rejected the Word of God.  He created all things with so much thought - read Genesis 1 to see how every detail was done so carefully and in such order.  He gave us His precious word to help us live. Eve began the ball rolling toward unrest (sin) when she chose to follow her feelings instead of the facts of what God had actually said.  Isaiah 26:3 (picture in our bathroom) tells us how to find peace and that is by keeping our minds set on the Lord God.

Our President, during the funeral of one of the Dallas police offers, suggested that "...we need to forge consensus, fight cynicism and find the will to make change".  With all due respect to him, I believe unless we go back to obeying God's word - which is as relevant today as it was when it was written on paper - we will never find policies that work.

Romans 2:8-11 tells us that those who "reject the truth" will find wrath, anger, trouble and distress.  I believe that's what we are seeing today.  Somewhere along the way, people decided they didn't have to follow the rules...they made their own...and we are reaping the consequences.  That passage says there will "...honor and peace for everyone who does good".

Condoleezza Rice prayed at a recent memorial service: "Dear heavenly Father...we know there are no easy answers, but the answers will come through You."

Will you be praying with me that those in authority will seek God and His word as they try to make sense of a world filled with hatred and violence?  2 Chronicles 7:14 says if we will, "He will heal our land".  Are you studying God's word?  Even if you never have, go to a Christian book store and find an inductive Bible study...join a BSF or Precept Bible study in your area...volunteer to teach children's Sunday School...that's how I learned much of the Bible!
May we not be one of the ones who God sees "rejecting the truth".

For further study: Deu. 11:18-21, 2 Sam. 22:31, Isaiah 55:10-11, Jer. 1:16, Matthew 24:35, John 1:1-5, John 15:1-8, 2 Tim. 3:16, Hebrews 4:12, James 1:22.

May you be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,
Holly

God can do far more than you can ask or imagine - Eph 3:20

Our family is waiting on God for a particular "desire of the heart".  I believe it is only when we are desperate for Him that He gives us the desires of our hearts (Ps. 37:4) or that we recognize His voice..  However, I also believe there are things in our lives that will ONLY EVER be answered by Him for His glory...things that no mortal man or organization can do.  I do believe and truly trust in His perfect will.  I also believe He teaches us as we wait upon Him.

Jen Wilkin has recently written a book entitled NONE LIKE HIM: 10 Ways God is Different from Us.  In it she says:

God is infinite; unbound by limits.

He defies measurement of any kind.

His limitlessness underlies all of his

attributes; his power, knowledge, love

and mercy are not merely great, but they

are infinitely so, measurelessly so.  No one

can place any aspect of who God is on a

scale or against a yardstick. 

This one true God, the Creator of the universe, wants to know you and wants to give you the desires of your heart.  He wants you to live in peace and joy with Him giving Him the glory and not taking it for yourself.  He has given you His word that you might know Him and He has given you work to do.  

Are you waiting on Him today...or waiting for a word from a friend, or a text or an email?  I'm not going to give you the 10 ways that Wilkin gives for how God is different from us, but I will give you 10 scriptures for further study...see if you can find out what they are (and stop trying to do those things yourself - or myself!).  My fleshly desires pale in comparison to what He wants to give...it's why His word is so important for me to know...rather than for my emotions to rule what I desire.

Stay tuned:  I believe God will answer our family's prayers, but in His perfect time and perfect way.

For further study:  Exodus 15:11, Job 26:14, Job 42:2, Psalm 90:1-4, Psalm 145:3, Malachi 3:6, Acts 17:24-25, Acts 17:27, Romans 8:38-39, Rev. 4:11.

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,

Holly

 

To God be the glory, great things He has done

So loved He the world that He gave us His Son.

Who yielded His life an atonement for sin

and opened the lifegate that all may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord

Let the earth hear His voice

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord Let the people rejoice.

Oh come to the Father through Jesus His Son

And give Him the glory great things He hath done.

Fanny Crosby wrote this hymn which originally was published in l875.  It wasn't until a 1954 Billy Graham crusade - which was highly criticized by the British Press - that this hymn helped spark a sense of revival in Great Britain.  It has been an important hymn to us in the church ever since.

The truth is in the world today most individuals tend to seek their own glory...their own success...their own acclaim,  rather than live for the glory of God.  I recently attended a wonderful Gospel Coalition women's conference in which Tim and Kathy Keller spoke - among other great teachers.  Kathy said "We can choose to glorify (God) or self-indulge in ourselves." Do you recognize you make choices every day to whom you will seek to glorify? She went on to say that too many of us operate - even in the church - out of our giftedness rather than God's grace.  In times of trouble, our gifts may fail, but grace never does.  If it's His grace, then it is certainly not our glory.

I think it's good to ask the question:  To whose glory am I working toward?  If it's not His, then we must be prepared for His power to "readust" our thinking...His purposes will not be thwarted. (Job 42:2)

I must confess in my zeal to embroider, I got the wording wrong in this verse.  It actually reads "To God be the glory and power forever."  Hope you'll give me grace for the error...I do recognize His glory must always come first!

For further study: Gen. 1:26, 1 Sam. 4:21-22, 1 Chron. 16:24, Psalm 19:1, Psalm 34:2-3, Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah 43:6-7,  Luke 2:14, Romans 1:21-25, Col. 3:23-24.

Be blesssed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,

Holly