Live in His Word

  Being present is very difficult in the world we live in. We may be physically present, but so often we are not emotionally or mentally present wherever we are. We get so busy trying to accomplish everything we think we have to do, that we are always thinking of the next thing. Or we might be overwhelmed and stressed so we check out and play with our devices. To be present we have to be intentional. When we are so busy it is also easy to forget to be present in the presence of God. We say we want God’s presence, but we need to stop and really ask ourselves if this is true. I have heard the statement many times, “Are you seeking God’s presents or His presence?” When it comes to God’s presence, we so often want what we think He should give us more than we want Him. We want our needs met, we want our sicknesses healed, we want freedom from bondage, we want to escape hell- but do we really want Him for who He is? Do we want Him as a genie who grants our wishes, or do we want Him as ou...

  Facebook memories can be such an interesting thing. It can help you to see things that have been important to you over time.  So many of my memories that have popped up from the last several years have been about wisdom. Verses about wisdom, talking about my desire for wisdom, etc. The older I have gotten and the more I have been around various people, the more I have realized how much I do not know. I want wisdom to know how to handle the situations we are facing, how to handle the people I encounter- and disagree with at times and to know how to be the best me I can be. The book of James has much to say about wisdom. In chapter 1 verse 5 it says that if we need wisdom we should ask our generous God. He wants to give us wisdom. All too often we think that whatever our point of view is or what we believe is what wisdom is. We assume because we are Christians we must be right.  We believe that we know it all and we don’t have anything to learn, and if we do have somethin...

This week I have been working on teaching my students to be more proactive than reactive. I try and explain to them the importance of controlling themselves and their reactions to others. I talk to them about making sure they stop and think about what they should say and do before they act. It is funny how when you are teaching something, that seems to be an area that you begin to struggle even more. Over the last year and a half, I have found myself wanting to react so many times. When I see people say and do things I want to give my opinion and try and get people to understand why I am right. I want to join in the reactive conversations that cause hurt and pain to others as people vehemently declare their rightness and everyone else's wrongness. I have never in my life seen a time when people are so vicious and just downright rude to each other. It also breaks my heart when I see people try and use scriptures to back up their opinion, but use them completely out of context and th...

So many days life seems absolutely overwhelming. We often think after our current season of life it will get easier. Whether it is raising babies, stressful jobs, money issues, worries about health and COVID, or maybe it is all of them at once- life can feel overwhelming. When we think of being overwhelmed we often think of it in a negative way. We equate being overwhelmed with feeling like everything is too much to handle. I find myself here more often than I would like to admit. But in Isaiah 61:10 we see being overwhelmed in a different light. Isaiah says, “I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!” The verse goes on to use imagery from a wedding to describe this feeling of overwhelming joy. When I go to a wedding I always love when the bride comes in, but I have a tendency to look at the groom while most everyone else is looking at the bride. One of my favorite parts of a wedding is to see the groom's reaction when he sees his beloved coming down the aisle. I love watchin...

 So often we try and make following God more difficult than it is. We think His ways are so mysterious and get frustrated when we don't know exactly what to do. This verse helps us to stop and look at what God wants from us. We are to do what is right. The Hebrew also translates what is just, what is proper or fitting. We can always look at the Bible and see things that we know are right or wrong. If it is gossiping it is wrong. Coveting- wrong. Sleeping with someone else's spouse- wrong. When we are trying to figure out what God wants we can be assured He wants us to do things that are right. Our conscience helps us to know if something is right, although it is possible to sear our conscience and convince it that what we want is what is right. Always go back to the Word.  We can also know that God wants us to love and show mercy. Mercy is lovingkindness, goodness, and pity. I think this is one that many Christians are getting wrong today. We are quick to say what we think is ...

  I shared a picture of something I wrote on a Facebook Group. It was a rather quick thing, I didn’t think much about it. I wrote down a quote on a sticky note from a speaker that really stuck out to me and put it on my board in front of me. I thought the quote was really good, so I took the picture and posted it. As of right now, it has almost 200 likes, which thoroughly surprised me (although it was a good quote). The funny thing is the more people that liked it the more I looked at the picture and was frustrated with myself that I didn’t write it cuter. I mean I love to write things in a cute way, and this I just wrote quickly and in black ink, not in my best handwriting, just put it on the paper. So I did this thing to try and encourage others and ended up being insecure because strangers, who don’t even know me, will see sloppy handwriting. So much of the time we do and say things because we want to be seen, we want to be known, and we want to be loved- yet more often than not...

  “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8 We have spent the last several weeks reminding ourselves that we need to be intentional in what we are thinking about. We have talked about fixing our minds- that we have to be active in this. No one is going to do it for us. We are thinking of things that are actually true, thinking correctly about ourselves, thinking of ways to treat others correctly, thinking on things lovely, and things that are of good report. This week we will focus on the last two words- excellent and worthy of praise.   I put these two words together because they are put together in a separate sentence in the Biblical text and because in a lot of ways they are connected. The word for excellent is arete, which means virtue or praise. The Strong’s Concordance definition sa...