July 9, 2011

I sent this to a friend today and then realized, I should post it here.

Church was really good today. Here are some of the points I got from it.

1. We need to take advantage of the freedoms we DO have for sharing the Lord, His word, and His love with others. I hear so often from other "Christians" all the rights and freedoms that are being taken away, yet don't see them taking advantage of the ones they still have left.

1 Peter 2:11-17

2. Abstain from sinful desires. We need to live our lives as best we can in ways that will not lead to guilt or shame, by avoiding sin.

3. Live good lives. Along with avoiding sin, making it so people really have nothing bad to say about us, we should live lives that give them good things to say about us. To not be neutral.

Remember, God's people are set apart from the people of the world.

4. Submit to every authority. Accept human rule and be obedient to it. Do not resist civil authority UNLESS it demands that you go against God's authority.
IF disobedience to man's law IS necessary, we must disobey peacefully. The law we disobey must clearly be against God's commands. We must not disobey with a rebellious heart or out of spite. I.E. If you feel called to knock on doors and witness to people and a law is made against knocking on doors to witness, yet you still feel the tug on your heart to do it. Do not go and get all your buddies and have them break the law with you just to stick it to the man. If it is truly a conviction on your heart then go and continue in your duty for God and accept the consequences of your choice.

Some examples of this would be: Shadrack Meshack and Abednego (I don't remember how to spell the names.) They obeyed God at the expense of being disobedient to man and the accepted the consequence of their choice by being thrown into the furnace. God saved them. Daniel obeyed God at the expense of disobeying man when he chose to continue worshiping the Lord against the king's law and accepted his consequence of being thrown to the lions. God saved him.

5. Live as free men and as servants to the Lord. If we truly live open lives (freely) in service to God, people will see and be blessed and God will touch their hearts. We won't even need to say a word if our lives reflect Jesus.

6. Show proper respect to EVERYONE. Jesus hated sin, but he loved people. That enormous woman with her above the bum tat and her clothes that hardly fit walking around wal mart with her dirty, loud, rude kids and her husband whose lip is full of chew and his head is covered by the worst mullet ever. Yeah God loves them. We need to too. Instead of seeing all their faults, all that is wrong with them, we must remember that we too are sinners without God and that these people are loved by God as much as we are. We need to pray for them instead of mock them.

7. Love other believers and lift them up. No matter what their strengths or weaknesses are. We are the bride of Christ and must take care of each other, if not for the sake of one another, then for the sake of Christ who deserves a healthy bride.

8. Fear God. For when we fear God and trust in the Lord, everything else will fall into place.

9. Honor the king. Whether it be the president, the governor, the mayor, the minister, your boss, we need to show reverence and respect to those in charge. We do not have to agree with them, but we do need to show them respect. That means not name calling or tearing them down, but instead lifting them up through prayer. No matter how wicked they are, they are also part of God's creation. When Peter wrote the scripture I listed he was in jail. Nero was king. He was very wicked. Yet Peter told the church to show him respect, obey his law (as long as it isn't against God's law), be good citizens. Jesus also when he said, "Give unto Ceasar's what is His."


We need to remember that this is not our home. That our home is in God's kingdom. Jesus did not call us to defend him, but to live for him and live like him.

And that was what I got from church today. I just thought I'd share.

July 5, 2011

This weekend I took a big leap of faith. Faith that I was capable enough of taking my 4 children, without my husband, camping. Thankfully it was with a group of families, so I wasn't trying it out alone, but it was still a scary concept for me. I did it, however, and God used it as an opportunity to bless me and grow me. The trip was a success. I had a great time, hardly got upset about anything, and wasn't very nervous aside from being a wimp about outhouses. haha It was much needed R&R after the stress I'd gained over the week or so before going. All of it seems pretty long ago, now. I think one of the things I enjoyed the most, aside from being in nature and watching my kids have a blast, was the faith based discussions. Ok I loved the games too, but I'm a board game nut and just being around grown ups in a family friendly environment was great too. But the perspective adjustments, the confirmations, the confidence that is gained when encouraging each other with faith is such a gift. I'm thankful that I have friends who love the Lord as much as I do.