Final 2008 Cover To Cover

This will be a short final 2008 Cover to Cover post on the last few days of Revelation. I am going to continue with the reading starting over in 2009 because I actually didn't join until 3 months or so into 2008, so I want to at least continue to the point where I joined. It has become such a special part of my day that I will probably continue all year again.

What I wanted to share from the final readings are just two passages:

Revelation 19:11-16 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

When I read this yesterday morning, the night before had been a difficult night with some issues, and boy did I need to see Jesus riding in on His white horse! Beautiful!!

Revelation 21:1-4 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Please take a few minutes to watch this amazing video from Jeremy Camp!






Blessings,

Cover to Cover

I've had a few days off of work for the holiday and I have enjoyed the extra time in His Word and spent in quiet time with Him! Here are just a few of the things that really stood out this week in my Cover to Cover reading.

Hebrews 4:14-16 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

He has been here and He understands! Whatever is on our hearts today, He understands!

Hebrews 5:12-14 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

We have to continue on our walk and keep maturing. We can't stay infants in our faith forever!

Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Often I hear that God isn't only at church from a loved one who doesn't want to go to, but this scripture is my argument to that! We need to continue fellowship with other believers!

Hebrews 11:1, 6 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

I know that I know! And, as a believer, I also know that we are never without hope! I'm still working on the faith thing! I'm so glad that He isn't finished with me yet!

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

I have to remember that storing up treasures in Heaven is the important thing and not to hold tightly to this world!

Have a great week everyone! And a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Blessings

Cover to Cover

Here are my thoughts from our Cover to Cover reading this week. Sorry it's so long, but there was too much! And I still cut out tons of stuff!

Pilippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Praise God He isn’t finished with me yet!!

Pilippians 1:20-21 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

This is the attitude I strive for!

Philippians 2:3-8 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!

What are my motives? What is my attitude?

Pilippians 2:12-13Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Praise God He is the one working in me!

Philippians 2:14-15 Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe

Do EVERYTHING without complaining or arguing! Ouch!

Pilippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Forget what’s behind and press on toward the goal!

Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Rejoice ALWAYS! Pray about EVERYTHING!

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Where are my thoughts today?

Philippians 4:11-13 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Learn to be content whatever the circumstances!

Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

He will meet all my needs!

1 Timothy 1:5-6 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk.

Lord, I want a sincere faith and a pure heart full of love!

1 Timothy 2:1-6 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.

Pray for everyone! Pray for those in authority!

1 Timothy 6:11-12 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Fight the good fight!

Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Say no to worldly passions and live self-controlled!

Titus 3:1-2 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

Be obedient to authority and do what is good! Be considerate and peaceable! Be truly humble!

1 Peter 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you,

Praise God my inheritance is waiting in Heaven where it can’t perish!

1 Peter 1:6-7 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Even though we sometimes suffer, He is refining our faith for His glory!

1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Rid myself of deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander and mature in my faith!

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Am I behaving as one of His chosen people, a royal priesthood, a child of God?

1 Peter 2:11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

Abstain from the sinful desires of the flesh! I am an alien and stranger in this world and need to remain set apart and not try to blend in!

1 Peter 3:8-12 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Live in harmony and do no repay evil with evil but with blessing!

1 Peter 3:14-15 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
1 Peter 4:12-14 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

I am blessed when I suffer!

1 Peter 5:8-9 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

The enemy is prowling like a lion! I must be self-controlled and be alert to his schemes!

2 Timothy 1:7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

God did not give me a spirit of timidity, but one of power!

2 Timothy 112That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

I know whom I have believed and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day!! I know that I know!

Have a great week everyone!

Blessings

God Stop Friday

Thank you Patty for hosting God Stop Friday!

I have been struggling a bit this week and actually wasn't sure what to do for my post this week and then this morning God worked His magic in the awesome way that He does! I just love when He opens our eyes and allows us to see Him work! And I am seeing that so many times when we pray for more of Him and pray for His presence, He does it by sending people to do it for Him! Patty's video today was very touching for me and spoke to me in a very personal way and gave me encouragement that I needed today! And, my Siesta friend, Michelle B, was there for me this morning with encouragement, advice and understanding when I needed it this morning!

He is always here and I know that He is sufficient, but sometimes He accomplishes His work through others that He puts in our path! Praise Him for that!

I loved what Beth posted on the LPM blog afternoon and you can read it here. The simple statement she made.......Believe Him........was just so powerful to me at the time when I needed to hear that!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Blessings

I Am Spoiled by Modern Conveniences!

Yesterday my coworker, who is also my neighbor, told me that their electricity had gone out about 10am. Since our little miniature dachshund is a total wimp in the cold, I decided to go home at lunch and see if my electricity was off too. Of course, it was, so I took the dog to my mother's house and I called the electric company just to make sure it had been properly reported. I was informed that it was a large problem and that it was estimated to be back on by 1pm.

At 4pm my coworker told me that they still didn't have power, so we both decided to call again. When I called this time I got a lady who didn't speak very clear English but she insisted it was scheduled to be back on by 3pm. ????? I explained to her that is was currently 4pm, to which she replied again that it had been reported and was scheduled to be back on by 3pm. ???? After doing this several times I finally gave up and hung up.

I left work at 5pm and went by the house and still no lights. So I called again. From that point on I began calling them once an hour and each time I was given the same polite speech that...........we're sorry for the inconvenience but they are working on it. Maybe it's just me, but couldn't they at least make up a story to make it sound like they are working on something? Perhaps they could have a script about a story of this tireless worker who has been battling this problem all day, and they finally traced the problem to a broken left filangee. And, of course, no one in town has a left filangee (only right ones), so he got on the phone and tracked down one left filangee in Dallas and he is headed there now to pick it up, and he won't quit until he gets your power back on! I mean, at least I would actually feel like someone really was doing something and I wasn't just getting the run-around from customer service people on the telephone who really have no idea whether anyone is actually working on the problem or not!

We finally got power back a little after 8pm and the temp in my house was down in the 50s by then, so we turned the heat on and got it started warming and went back to my Mom's house to get my dog and my other son and finally went home for the evening about 8:30pm. So my evening was spent driving back and forth from my parents to check on our electricity because the electric company couldn't tell us anything. But, Praise the Lord, it did come back on in time for us to go home and go to bed and get ready at our own home this morning! I found out this morning that my coworker didn't get his power until several hours after us. And no one still knows what the problem really was. UGH!

And, tonight is the David Phelps concert! I'm so excited!



Blessings,

Cover to Cover

Once again this week our Cover to Cover reading is too packed full of gold nuggets, so I’m just going to concentrate on a couple that were big to me this week.

Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

Can I say that I live like this? No. But I want to! I want to be totally sold out for Jesus! I’m doing Beth Moore’s Esther Bible study right now and she tells us that we do have a destiny. The thing is, my destiny isn’t going to be something comfortable that I will find just going through my daily routine. And it’s not going to be something that’s just for my own benefit. It will be out of my comfort zone, it will be work, and it will be to benefit a group of people. I don’t want to miss my destiny! I want to run the race and complete the task that He has given me!

The following is a longer section of scripture than I would normally include, but I thought it wrapped up our weekly reading so nicely:

Colossians 3
1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Paul just wraps it all up and ties a bow on it for us there, doesn’t he? A long time ago I had heard a women’s ministry speaker who said every morning she read v12-14 of this scripture making a point of mentally clothing herself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, and forgiveness and binding it all together with love. Reading this brought that back to my mind and reminded me that I need to make a point of doing this each morning. Because I know those things are not my natural, flesh-nature reactions! I know that I need to make a deliberate decision each day to live this way!

Tomorrow night we get to go see David Phelps in his Christmas concert. He comes here every other year and my parents go with us and it's a big highlight for us!

Have a great week!

Blessings,

Siesta Ornament Exchange

I'm so sorry for being behind! I'm finally getting my pictures posted of the goodies I got for our Siesta Ornament exchange. My gifts came from Michelle B and you can visit her at her blog Because I Love You.

I was very blessed to get to meet Michelle and hug her neck in San Antonio at the Siesta Fiesta. Over time we have gotten to learn more about each other and have found out we have so much in common! For starters, we both love and collect snowmen.

Here is my little snowman she sent me and a pretty candle holder she also sent. They are so pretty and go great with my other stuff.

And this cross is absolutely gorgeous! I have it hanging on my wall in my living room by our Christmas tree. As you can see, it's the nativity story inside the cross. Such a beautiful reminder that we really can't have the manger without the cross as well.

I love my beautiful new Christmas decorations! There are no coincidences and God puts people into our lives for a reason. He puts people in our path who we can share things with and learn from, and Michelle B has certainly been a wonderful blessing! She loves the Lord and she has a beautiful heart!

Blessings

Count Your Blessings

Blessings,

Cover to Cover

Are you kidding me? How in the world can I possibly pick out scriptures from this week’s Cover to Cover reading? I pretty much have the whole reading highlighted most days! I will do my best to pick a few that stand out and then stop myself before posting an entire novel!

2 Corinthians 2
14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

We are the aroma of Christ to those around us. What do I smell like today? I say that only half joking because there are days when I know I must stink! I need to make sure I surrender myself when I get up every morning and empty me of me and let Him fill me with His Holy Spirit, otherwise I will never be able to spread His fragrance to those around me!

2 Corinthians 3
16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

I think so often there is this idea that God’s rules are so restrictive that we might miss out on something. I honestly think it’s an idea that many non-Christians have as well as many Christians. The thing we have to come to realize is that His ways actually give us freedom. As long as we are slaves to sin, we will never know true freedom until we completely surrender to Him! I want to reflect His glory!

2 Cornithians 4
7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

You see what I mean; I’m not even through day 1 here. When I read this verse I think about Paul who wrote it, and the things he endured and to be able to say that he may be hard pressed, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. And then I look at my life in that perspective!

2 Corinthians 4
18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 5
6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7We live by faith, not by sight.

What is seen is temporary. This life, this world is temporary. I have to stay focused on the unseen that is eternal. Our society tries to convince us every day that we need to conform and blend in. And every day I have to make the deliberate decision to remain focused on the unseen and the eternal and to stand out rather than blend into this world! I have to live by faith and not by sight. I tend to be a very practical person. I’m an accountant and most happy with my numbers that follow rules. It has taken time for me to develop a personal relationship with my God that I cannot see and touch. However, once you know Him, you realize that He is more real than anything we can touch here on this earth!

2 Corinthians 10
3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We aren’t constrained to just the weapons of this world. We have weapons with the divine power to demolish strongholds. I can and must take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. Many times from many different Bible teachers I have heard teachings on the battlefield of our mind. It won’t happen by accident. It’s a battle and we must deliberately use our weapons He has given us, and must daily suit up with our armor and go into the battle focused and determined. Especially in our culture today!

2 Corinthians 12
7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

This has been a recurring message that He has been giving me lately in pretty much every study or book I pick up. We don’t know what Paul’s thorn was. There are different theories out there, but I believe it was left general so that each of us could apply it to our own lives. I have a thorn (and possibly even more than one) I have asked for years to be delivered from, but I believe He keeps telling me that He is sufficient!

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

As a new Christian a few years ago, this verse was the first scripture that He very clearly gave to me. It was so amazing to me that He would communicate to me in such a way! I was in awe! However, it took me a while to understand the meaning of it because it was hard for me as a new Christian to understand why bad things happen if he works for good. It took some time in my walk and relationship with Him to understand that what He knows is good for me is not necessarily what I think of as good. It may seem like a bad thing happened, but He knows what’s best for me, and only He can see the big picture that I cannot see. I have trust that He is working for my good at all times even when things didn’t happen according to my plan, or I didn’t get something I really wanted. But, after several years of study and relationship with Him, I am learning that I am so thankful that He knows best and He works according to His will because my ideas of good are so distorted! Praise God He is in control and not me!!!

Romans 12
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This goes back to what I said about an earlier scripture that we have got to deliberately refuse to conform to this world! I have to daily surrender myself to Him and His will and then go out into the world knowing that I’m going to stand out and that’s not going to be ok with some people, but if I continue to stand out and show His love to those around me, then some may see His love and be brought around for His kingdom.

I have forced myself to leave out SO much, and yet I kept going way longer than I intended, so I am going to stop now!

Come back later and I'll post about my goodies I got in our Siesta ornament exchange!

Have a wonderful week!

Blessings

God Stop Friday

Thank you Patty for hosting God Stop Friday for us! I hope you getting to feeling better soon!

I love when God speaks to me! It never ceases to totally amaze me when He clearly speaks straight to me! I love hearing from Him and I just can't get enough of it! I don't even mind when it's convicting. I just get so excited to hear from Him that I'm even excited and happy when He convicts me!

Lately He's been speaking to me in whatever book I open and it's just so cool! At any given time I usually have a Bible study going, and a Christian fiction book, and usually some type of Christian living book as well. For a couple of weeks His message for me, over and over, in everything I opened, was that He is sufficient. And it was a time when I really needed to hear that! Lately, in just the last couple of days, He has been telling me to be still and start spending more silent time with Him. I have my morning devotional, and my Bible studies, and tons of Christian reading, and I pray and communicate with Him all day, but I don't take enough time to just sit and listen for the still small voice! He's been convicting me and reminding me of this for the last couple of days and then this morning I open up my blog list and find this post from Melinda at Traveling the Road Home. OK! I get it! :) There will be more time set aside in my days for silent time with Him. But, I still love that He cares enough about us as individuals that He speaks so clearly to each one of us right where, when, and how we need Him to! Praise Him!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Blessings

Cover to Cover

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving holiday! My youngest turned 13 yesterday so I officially have 2 teenagers! The oldest has a birthday coming up in just a few days also.

This week’s Cover to Cover readings had a lot to say about the church.

1 Corinthians 1:10 “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”

I have often thought about how much the Body of Christ could accomplish if we could truly be unified! I know people that are so caught up in legalism and thinking that their denomination is right and everyone else is wrong, and it frustrates me and saddens me. I know people who actually stopped attending our church when they added a contemporary worship service on Sunday morning because they believe it’s sacrilegious and they won’t have anything to do with a church that has such a service or those who attend (like myself). I’m not saying they should have to attend a service they don’t like, but to cut all ties with the church and anyone who attends.....?

1 Corinthians 1:25 “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.”

This is a comforting verse for me because I know that God is bigger than any man and we cannot fathom His wisdom and strength!

1 Corinthians 1:31 “Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
I cannot do anything without Him, and He always deserves the glory, no matter what it is! I don’t ever want to boast in anything but Him!

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?”

This weekend I had a chance to get caught up watching my Wednesdays with Beth that I had on my DVR and she briefly talked about this passage. Are we still thinking like mere men when we have the Spirit of Christ in us? Are we still concerned with what is worldly? These are questions that I have to ask myself today.

I really love this daily reading of His Word!
I hope you all have a wonderful week!


Blessings