Psalm 130

¹Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD.
²Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
³If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
⁴But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
⁵I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.
⁶My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
⁷O Israel, hope in the LORD;
For with the LORD there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
⁸And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.

Out of the Depths

Out of the Depths
From Sovereign Grace's cd Psalms

Out of the depths, O Lord, I cry to You
When I am tempted to despair
Though I might fail to trust Your promises
You never fail to hear my prayer
And if You judged my sin
I’d never stand again
But I see mercy in Your hands

So more than watchmen for the morning
I will wait for You, my God
When my fears come with no warning
In Your Word I’ll put my trust
When the harvest time is over and I still see no fruit
I will wait, I will wait for You

The secret mysteries belong to You
We only know what You reveal
And all my questions that are unresolved
Don’t change the wisdom of Your will
In every trial and loss
My hope is in the cross
Where Your compassions never fail

Talking about Marriage

I am taking a class taught by Mrs. Tanya York for my Seminary Wives Institute on Marriage and Family. I am SO enjoying it! We are reading the book "Creative Counterpart" by Linda Dillow, which I am finding phenomenally helpful. As God's providence would have it, we are also taking a discipleship class on Strengthening Your Marriage (both Ryan and I) which has also been awesome! We so greatly desire to have a marriage which honors Christ and lives out the love, grace and mercy... the beauty of the gospel! I am learning so much and being blessed beyond what I can imagine!

One aspect of my weekly homework is a list of questions pertaining to the specific subject that we are studying that week, to discuss with my husband. The questions are designed to promote communication with your spouse about important issues that affect your marriage. Each week has been very beneficial and practical. As most of you who know Ryan and I, we talk plenty so giving us specific questions to discuss doesn't find us giving one-word shallow answers. We end up having wonderful conversations and discussing spiritual matters. This week was probably Ryan's favorite (you can guess what we this week's class was about!) We went out on a date and discussed our answers to the questions over a very pleasant dinner at a local restaurant/pub. We ended up sitting in the van and talking for quite awhile after we had left the restaurant. I will really miss having such great questions to prompt our discussions after my class is finished. As such I thought that you married ladies might enjoy it if I shared a couple of the questions, so that maybe you and your husband might have a great conversation during a date, or over a cup of hot cocoa, or some evening while lying in bed snuggling. Just make sure that you don't spring these on your husband without warning. Maybe you could explain where you got them from and plan a special time/date night, etc. to discuss and (Lord willing) be blessed by your time together.Give him time to answer. Be prepared to listen (we ladies do so much talking; let your husband do most of the talking!) Don't be overly sensitive to his answers if they were unexpected. Show love and grace and mercy as you have been shown by Jesus! And one more helpful hint: body language speaks volumes... make sure you give your undivided attention to your husband. Lean forward with your body, look him in the eyes and smile encouragingly at him as he talks. Don't interrupt him and don't be argumentative or critical.

Here's some of the questions... May they bless you as they have blessed us.

Rekindling the Spark:

What are your memories of first meeting your mate? Of your first date? Of your first kiss? Of your most hilarious romantic moment?

Do You Really Know Your Husband:

What is the happiest thing that has ever happened to your husband? What has been the hardest experience of his life? What are his secret ambitions / goals for his life? What are his deepest fears? What about you does he admire the most? What traits of yours would he like to see changed? What man or men does he most admire?

What has especially pleased your spouse during the past month? What does your spouse worry about? Name one specific thing that would make your spouse feel special or loved.

Spiritual growth Questions: These questions are only good when both spouses are believers.

In what ways are you working individually to develop a deeper faith and Christian spirituality? In what ways are you working together as a couple to develop a deeper faith and Christian spirituality? What kind of support does your spouse need from you to nurture their spirituality? (and vice versa) What are we successfully doing in growing together spiritually as a couple? What are some things we can do to improve?

Love Talk Questions:

What do you really enjoy about our sex life? What would make it better for you? What is your ideal "perfect" romantic, sexual encounter? How could I be a better lover? How do you feel about the frequency of our love making? What barriers will we need to overcome for both of us to be satisfied with our sex life and entire relationship? How can we get started?


So, married ladies... I would highly recommend the above mentioned book by Linda Dillow "Creative Counterpart" as well as her book "Intimate Issues". And I would remind you all that with all of these questions, you should seek to honor and respect your husband. Do not ask any questions that will not accomplish that goal (honoring and respecting him) or edify him.

Sermon Jams

Sermon Jams are sermons, or excerpts from sermons, that are put together with background music. I've got the Don't Waste Your Life series on cd and really enjoy listening to it. I've found a few links on youtube that I want to share with you. This won't be for everyone, but give it an honest chance before you decide it's too 'weird' for you. :)

John Piper and Scripture Memorization

John Piper Don't Waste Your Life

Another from John Piper (this is my favorite!)

Witty Wednesday

Church Bulletin Bloopers Part 2

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
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A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow..
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At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.
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Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
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Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
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Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered..
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The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

Cross Centered Life: Ch.2

What's Your Life Centered On? That is the title of the 2nd chapter of The Cross Centered Life. It is a wonderful, heart-revealing question.C.J. Mahaney tries to show us how important it is to see what we build our lives around, what motivates us and what effects our lives, our decisions, our affections, passions, our characters.

Quite often what we center our lives on is something good, such as our families, ministry, and friends - all good gifts from God, yet so distracting. I know I tend to build my life around God's good gifts to me rather then God himself, as He has revealed Himself through the Gospel. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to bear the wrath that I deserve because of my sin. Jesus suffered, bled and died on a cross, in my place, to take the punishment I deserve, and bring me near to the Creator as a clean, forgiven, and much loved child of the Most High God! This is good news, and should be what my life is built on. The gospel is what my life should be centered on. There is much temptation to move on from the gospel, to what we may believe to be bigger and better things. We want to know the deep things of God. We want to move on to greater truths; and though that growth in the knowledge of the word of God is necessary, it is not bigger and better apart from the gospel. The christian life, beginning, middle, and end, is all about the gospel of Jesus Christ- what was accomplished through Jesus' death on the cross!

D.A. Carson said, " I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights hat take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far moved from idolatry."

This is a scary thought that it is so easy to build my life around my family rather then my family around the cross - the gospel, and that it is having an idol - something that takes my affections that rightly belong to God and sets it on that thing, such as my family. Perhaps for some of you, it is work, or friends, or a ministry , or pursuit of knowledge, that displaces the cross and becomes what you build your life, you actions, character, and affections on.

The death and resurrection of Jesus is of first importance in the life of a follower of Jesus. It is what should permeate all our thinking, family life, work, play, ministry and pursuit of knowledge.

C.J. Mahaney points out 3 ways of thinking that we slip into and draw us away from the gospel.

1. Legalism, which means basing our relationship with God on our own performance.
2. Condemnation, which means being more focused on our own sin than on God's grace.
3. Subjectivism, which means basing our view of God on our changing feelings and emotions.

I don't know about any of you, but I have all three of these tendencies at various times, and they kill my joy in the Lord.

We must battle, dear sisters, to keep the gospel at the center and not allow anything to distract us and allow us to make the gospel secondary in our lives.

What about you, what is of first importance to you?

What have you built your life on?

What do think about the most?

What do enjoy the most?

What do you your activities center around?

Let us pray together that we would never boast in anything but the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

God promise

I read these promise from God today.  They are about Jesus being my security.  With the uncertainty in these times, it is good to remember that God promises to take care of His children.

 

2 Thessalonians 3:3 says :  But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

 

John 10:27-29 says:  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.

Book Discussion: The Cross Centered Life, Chapter 1

In the first chapter of the Cross Centered Life, Mahaney introduces the concept of the importance of living a "cross centered life." On page 16 he writes, "Perhaps the purpose of this book is to restate the obvious, yet oft-neglected, truth of the gospel, to bring it before you one more time."

The gospel is the most important truth in a Christian's life but it is often forgotten in the business of daily life and eagerness to learn something "new." The result of this is always bad. We loose our joy, our focus, and our purpose. Mahaney says that the signs of not living a cross centered life are obvious, and then poses the following qualities of a person in this position to help us determine if this could be us.

• You often lack joy.
• You're not consistently growing in spiritual maturity.
• Your love for God lacks passion.
• You're always looking for some new technique, some "new truth" or new experience that will pull all the pieces of your faith together.

The gospel is the most important truth of the Bible and its theme throughout. Without the gospel the Bible would have no purpose. It would only serve to condemn us. But because of the gospel, because of the awesome work that Jesus did on the cross, we have salvation. Our sins have been paid for and we have an eternity with God to look forward to! This is great truth! This is joyful, dancing in the streets truth! This is tell everyone you know because you are so excited truth!

The sad reality is that most of us live in the list I quoted from the book rather than the scene I just described. We are far from joyful, spending most of our days caught up in busywork and struggling with depression and anxiety. We don't share the gospel with our friends and neighbors because we are shy or scared or because we simply don't think to. And this is sad, friends. This is wrong.

Join me in rediscovering the great truth of the gospel, of recovering the joy you had when you first were saved. "The key to joy, to growth, to passion isn't hiding from you. It's right before your eyes.

It's the gospel."

Witty Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! Try to conceal your shock at getting two of these in a row (and from me on top of it!) long enough for me to tell you that I have the next two weeks covered as well!! I know, when was the last time you got four in a row!! :) I am pretty pleased with myself right now, I tell you what.

I did not make these up but they were sent to me in one of the least annoying email chains I've ever received. I actually laughed out loud over several of these! Enjoy :)

These sentences (with all the BLOOPERS) actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:

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The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
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The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
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Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
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Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say 'Hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you.
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Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
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Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
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For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
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Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

2 Corintians 1:26-31

²⁶For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

²⁷but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

²⁸and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,

²⁹so that no man may boast before God.

³⁰But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

³¹so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

Oh, that I would spend my days boasting in the Lord, savoring His goodness and mercy; loving , living, and speaking the gospel.

I praise God that He is not like us. We exalt the wise, strong, beautiful and talented. We look to be all those things. But, God shames the wise and the strong, by choosing to make a people for himself out of fools and weak sinners like me. He makes it so we have nothing to point to in ourselves. As His people we are compelled to boast in- make much of our Lord!

God will provide

 

During my recent Bible reading in the Old Testament, I saw something that I had never seen before.  When the Israelites went out of Egypt, they were told by God that they would plunder the Egyptians.  They were to ask people for precious metals and gems and expensive cloth.  Amazingly, the Egyptians willingly gave it to them.  I had always thought that God caused the Egyptians to give all of these costly things to them as a type of restitution.  But later when the Israelites were in the wilderness, God told them to make the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant.  He specified what they were to be made of and I realized that God gave them the riches of Egypt not as restitution, but so that they would have what they would need to build the tabernacle for Him!!   I have realized that God, who promises to provide for our needs, will do so no matter what.  He is the Might God of the universe, everything is His.  There is nothing that He can't do.  No matter what our needs are, He can supply them.   Many times I stress over how we are going to be able to pay for unexpected repairs or a need.  To me, I can't imagine how it will work out.  But it always has.  God has always supplied what I needed and I should never doubt Him.   These are scarry times.  The economy is in the tank and jobs are scarce.  It seems nothing is under control and anything could happen at any moment.  But, as Christians we can bring our needs before the Lord and we can trust that He will take care of us.  That is very comforting to me and I hope it is for you all.

How Can I Keep from Singing - Chris Tomlin

There is an endless song
Echoes in my soul
I hear the music ring

And though the storms may come
I am holding on
To the rock I cling

How can I keep from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing

I will lift my eyes
In the darkest night
For I know my Savior lives

And I will walk with You
Knowing You'll see me through
And sing the songs You give

How can I keep from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing

I can sing in the troubled times
Sing when I win
I can sing when I lose my step
And fall down again
I can sing 'cause You pick me up
Sing 'cause You're there
I can sing 'cause You hear me, Lord
When I call to You in prayer
I can sing with my last breath
Sing for I know
That I'll sing with the angels
And the saints around the throne

Honoring Jesus

I heard a woman complaining about Jesus the other day. She said horrible things, awful things. She said things like, " He is so ungrateful. He never helps me at all. I work and serve him all day long. I give up my own desires to please him and does he ever thank me? No. And he never compliments me either. He never even notices how nice I am to him. He doesn't see when I try to look nice for him. He doesn't even care. And he never does the things I ask him to. He is always so busy doing the things that he wants to. In fact he's lazy. He sits around and wastes time while I do all of the real work. I take care of my kids. I take care of my house. I make sure everything is clean and nice. Do I ever get a day off? No. All he does is demand things of me. He tells me what to do and how he wants it done. He's so bossy. So I try to do what he tells me; I give it my best, and how does he reward me? He ignores me! When was the last time he gave me pretty flowers or spent time paying attention to me? When was the last time that he really appreciated me? I deserve better!" On and on she went. I couldn't believe my ears! How dare she talk that way! Then a few days later I heard her crying. She was so sad. She sounded so lost and lonely and pitiful. She told me all about how miserable she was. How badly she was suffering because of all those things she had told me about. At first I felt really bad for her, but then I realized that she was so wrong! She shouldn't be saying such things about Jesus! She was thinking about things all wrong!

Have you ladies ever heard any women talk about Jesus this way? No?
Well how about their husbands?
Wait a minute (one might say), my husband is NOT Jesus. It's not the same. And that's true. My husband isn't Jesus either.

Scripture says, "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands." Ephesians 5:22-24 "... and let the wife see that she respects her husband" Eph. 5:33b

You see, I must confess that this woman was me. I had given in to my sinful old flesh and was having a complaining party in my mind. I was being selfish, self-deceiving, bitter, prideful, and angry. But then my new heart was listening and was sending warning signals to my mind. Then the Spirit was so kind to remind me that I was to love and respect my husband as if he were Jesus, Himself. So when I think unloving, disrespectful, ungrateful thoughts about my husband, it's just like as if I were thinking those thoughts about Jesus! Plus since God is sovereign, when I get angry with my husband I am also getting angry with God because of what He allowed to happen. So when I have a sinful attitude toward my husband, I have a sinful attitude toward God. Wow.. that's alot of sin! In light of all of this, I could see that it was so wrong of me to allow myself to give in to those sinful, fleshly thoughts and ungrateful attitudes. I had to confess my sins to God (and Ry because I knew that I had acted out my sinful attitudes) and repent of them! Praise God that He forgives sin and truly does give us the strength to follow Him!

So now I ask you ladies... have you heard anyone lately (even in the quietest voice in the back of their mind?) talking about Jesus in that way? How about their husbands? Or maybe their future husband, etc....

Isn't life so much better when we can focus on the beauty of Jesus and the grace and mercy that He has shown us, through submitting to Him and following His gospel call to be His bride? Isn't life so much better when we can focus on the beauty of Jesus at work in our husbands and live out the beauty of the gospel through respecting and joyfully submitting to our husband?

Dear Jesus, help us to love You more and submit to our husbands and reverence them as the wonderful men that you will make them in Your good timing, when You conform them to Your image.

Cross Centered Life Bookstudy

Good Morning Ladies. I was supposed to start our book study on the Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney today but I have not finished it. For that I apologize. It isn't all bad news, however, as that means that you will all have one more week to track the book down and start reading. And I would highly recommend that you do.

The Cross Centered Life deals mainly with the gospel and the place that it should have in our lives. Mahaney speaks to the common thought that the gospel's only purpose is to get us saved...and then after we have been saved, it is our responsibility to grow into bigger and better things. He encourages believers to live their lives in the gospel, in such a way that it permeates every aspect of our life.

This is an excellent book and I hope that you all are planning to read it with us. We will post our discussion of chapter one next Thursday.

Witty Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, Ladies! It's been a while since we've posted a Witty Wednesday for you.

Please follow this link to a post that made me laugh and enjoy the rest of your week!

Prayer Opportunity

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday! I wanted to take a moment to make sure that you saw the announcement in this week's bulletin about an opportunity for prayer.

Dave Crocker, one of our deacons, is organizing a time of prayer Sunday mornings from 8:30-9:30. The group will be meeting at church prior to the service. This is an excellent chance to come alongside each other in prayer for Missio Dei and its members.

I know that 8:30am is early - I typically don't even get up until 9am on Sunday mornings. However, the benefits of coming together to engage in for our church far outweigh the minor inconvenience of getting up a little early.

This is an important opportunity and one that I hope you all will take full advantage of. I will be there and I hope to see many of you there as well.

A Mighty God

 

I have been reading through Exodus lately.  I have read through it many times before and know the Exodus story pretty well.  This time however, God has shown me His awesome power and holiness.   When I think of God, I see Him as a loving Father, Someone that I can pray to when I am in trouble and thank for the blessings He sends into my life.  I often fail to recognize that He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He is all powerful and I seem to live my life in a way that I fail to think about His greatness and that when I pray I am entering the throne room of the Mighty God.    Throughout Exodus, God clearly displays His power and the Israelites clearly treat Him with respect.  Since God is the same yesterday, today and forever I need to remember how powerful He is.  He holds my very life in His hands.  He is worthy of great respect.   I have been convicted that when I come before the Lord in prayer, often times I come in a casual manner.  I need to realize just Who I am talking to.  Not one of my buddies, but the Most Holy God who is sitting on His throne.  I also realize that when I do pray to Him, I often do it without faith that He can or will do something about my circumstances.  After all He has already done for me, I sometimes doubt His ability and willingness to help me with much smaller things.  This must make Him sad.   Over the past several years, God has graciously taken care of me and has been very close to me.  Now, when things seem to be better, I don't think so much about those times and I feel like I am saying to God: I can do it myself.  But, I know that I can't do anything myself.  I need the Lord.   I am thankful that God has shown me my sin in this area.  I plan to picture myself bowing at the feet of the Most Holy God from now on when I pray.  I look forward to the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord and He makes all things right.  Come Lord Jesus!

Looking Forward to Heaven Part 2

Yesterday we talked about the anticipation that we should have for heaven - for spending an eternity with God. Today we will go a little deeper into our discussion.

Philippians 1 gives us an excellent example of the fine line we walk here. Verses 21-24 read, "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake." If you notice, every time Paul mentions his own personal preferences, what would be better for him, he speaks of going home to Christ. Notice the phrase "very much better." Not just kind of better, or theoretically better, but "very much better." He equates death with gain, not with loss.

And what does he mention as his purpose in continuing to live? Is it that he wants to have children first? Is it that he wants to retire first? No! Rather, the only purpose he can come up with is fruitful labor, for ministering to others and spreading the gospel. Consider the final phrase "to remain on is more necessary for your sake." What? This statement is huge!

Paul's life is so devoted to servitude that he equates his very reason for living as serving others. There is no reason for himself to stay alive and he has no problem in saying that he would much rather just go and be with Christ, but he recognizes that the work the Lord has him doing is important for others. This statement by Paul should cause us to think on two different levels.

First, how many of us think this way? If we are honest, probably very few of us. Paul obviously has a very big view of who God is. We should be continually praying that God would reveal more of Himself to us (and more of ourselves to us!) until we, like Paul, can cry out that going to be with Christ this exact second is so much better than anything we would be 'missing' here on Earth!

Second, how many of us could honestly say that our single greatest reason for living is to serve others? How many of us can pray, "Father, I want to come home! But perhaps allow me to linger on to continue to do this work in your name!" What impact would your death have on the world? God has not called us all to be Paul, but He has called us all to live our lives in complete abandon for Him and His Word.

The Lord blesses us in many ways while we are on this Earth. Every child is a gift from God. Beautiful weather is a gift from God. Delicious food is a gift from God. Good sleep is a gift from God. But all of these gifts are completely blown away by the ultimate gift of salvation in Jesus Christ and eternity with God.

Just like the children in our example, we should be preparing. We are only on this Earth for a short time and we need to be making the most of it - especially if we are praying that Christ would come back soon! Just as they took joy in picking their favorite outfits to wear for their friends, so should we be clothing ourselves with holiness and the fruits of the spirit.

Now, this is all very interesting to talk about and read about. But how many of us are really sitting on the edge of our seats every minute of every day wondering, "Will this be the day I get to go home??" As I mentioned earlier, this is due to our lack of knowledge of God. If we truly knew God for who He was, this world would sicken us. If we truly understood our salvation this would not be a struggle. But we are sinners and our minds are still clouded by sin. Let us join together today in prayer that God would make Himself known to us more every day. That He would so grow in majesty in our minds that we are willing and eager to count it all as loss for the sake of Christ and His gospel!

Looking Forward to Heaven Part 1

Oh no. You did it again. You volunteered to watch some kids from the church for the weekend and you told your own children about it. And now they won't stop talking about it! They are bouncing off the walls, running up and down the stairs and, worst of all, asking repeatedly if it is the weekend yet. "How much longer to Friday, mom?" "Hey mom, is it almost the weekend?" "Ma! How much longer 'till Sammy comes over?" Every five minutes the subject comes up until you wish you hadn't told them until after the visitors arrived!

They begin to rearrange their rooms, planning where each person will sleep. Favorite toys are brought out to display proudly. Outfits are planned and activities are organized. Everything they come in contact with suddenly relates, in some way, to the upcoming weekend.

You try to distract them with other things but each idea fails. You put in a movie but all they do is talk about how much fun it will be to watch movies with their friends on the weekend. You take them to the park but all they do is ask if they can go again on Saturday. You tell them one morning that they can have ice cream for dessert after dinner (because by this point you'd rather hear about ANYTHING but the upcoming weekend!) but all they do is ask if they can have ice cream with their friends on Friday.

No matter what you do or how hard you try to distract them, your kids' minds are focused on that weekend.

This is how we should feel about Heaven. We should be so excited over the prospect of spending eternity in Heaven with God that our excitement is barely containable. We should be so utterly focused on it that our joy and anticipation is readily apparent to anyone we see. Everything in our life should point to it.

Do you love singing hymns and praises? Anticipate the day when you will be singing praises continually! Do you love studying and learning more of the Lord? Imagine the day when you will see Him face to face! Do you loathe the sin that constantly encroaches upon your life? Bounce with excitement that one day this will no longer be an issue!

Just as the children set up their rooms and picked the toys and games they would want to use with their friends, so should we be preparing ourselves for Heaven. The time of our sanctification is now and we should take full advantage of it.

The excitements and events of this world should not cause us to lose our focus for one minute. Graduation, boyfriends/girlfriends, marriage, jobs, kids, cars, vacations, houses, grandkids, retirement - nothing should be held in higher anticipation than Heaven. You find out in a doctors visit a week before you were to be married that you have cancer and three days to live? It's been nice knowing you, honey, but I'm going home!

I know this sounds awful, and I almost didn't type it but I chose to anyway. If we had a right view of God and of Heaven and of our sinful state here on Earth then we would have no problem with that example, we would wholeheartedly agree! We should hold nothing in comparison to spending eternity with Christ in His glory! Our death should be a much anticipated event and our joy should rise exponentially with each year we live for we know that we are that much closer to Heaven.

Come back tomorrow to read more about this.

Psalm 73:25-28

I just wanted to share what I am meditating on and praying through today.


Psalm 73:25-28
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;
You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.
But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
That I may tell of all Your works.

February

Today is the first day of February. When I think of this month I think about Valentine's Day and how it is a special time of the year to let people you love know how special they are.

This year I am not only thinking about earthly relationships but, also of my relationship with God. I think about the best Valentine there ever was: Jesus gave His life for me! I think about how Jesus died a horrible death to pay the penalty for my sin. Now that is love!

I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to show your love to others on Valentine's Day, and every other day of the year. But, please take some time to reflect on the greatest Valentine this year. Jesus our Savior.