the Word IN me

I am SO EXCITED about beginning to practice Scripture memory again! When I was growing up, my family memorized several passages and verses together. Some of them (like Psalm 23) I could recite for you in my sleep. Others I've mostly forgotten. I also memorized quite a few verses in high school. Since becoming an adult though, I've mostly neglected that particular discipline. But I listened to a session earlier this week about the importance, indeed the MANDATE in Scripture to memorize Scripture. So I got with a precious sister yesterday and we have committed to practicing Scripture memory together. And I'm PUMPED! I want to know Scripture better, because that is how my God has ordained to reveal Himself to His people. So, I want to encourage you to get God's Word IN you! =)

Transformation by the Word: The Power of Scripture Memory Workshops - The Gospel Coalition 2012 National Women's Conference Mary K. Mohler | Jun 22, 2012

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:2-17

Gushing

I love when I get a break from teaching school to my Crew! I love teaching them too-- at least sometimes. ;) But I love the breaks because I have so much more freedom in terms of what I do with my days. When I am sewing, or cleaning, or cooking, I am able to listen to sermons and things. I don't get that opportunity when I'm teaching school. So this week I've been sewing, and listening to more sessions from The Gospel Coalition's Women's Conference. After spending the better part of two days being poured into by these women of faith, I am literally GUSHING! When I think of gushing, I think of Old Faithful. So last night after the kids went to bed, I just spewed all over Shorty! =) Fortunately for him, it was gushing about the greatness of our God, and not complaints. He has been the sad victim of that kind of gushing before. =(

One portion of one of the sessions that stood out to me was when the speaker was setting the context for her particular passage. She went back to the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve had sinned. And she said that as Adam and Eve heard God pronounce judgement on the serpent-- he was the first to receive judgement-- that God was already showing them grace. You see, God had told them that on the day that they ate from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would DIE. But as God spoke judgement on the serpent He said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring..." (Gen 3:15) And offspring means LIFE! Before God ever spoke judgement on Adam and Eve, he offered them grace and hope! That was just such a HUGE thought to me! Grace greater than all our sin! =)

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.
Psalms 16:5-9
 
Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Psalms 32:10-11
 
Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
Psalms 33:18-22

Glory

I've been reading in Revelation during my devotions. Well, I finished yesterday, but I've decided to read through Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation for the rest of this year. It's difficult for me to read... but I'm loving seeing how the texts mirror one another! And I'm praying that the Lord will give me insight. So today as I read the first few chapters of Ezekiel, I noticed something.

Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
Ezekiel 1:28
 
So I arose and went out into the valley, and behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the Chebar canal, and I fell on my face.
Ezekiel 3:23
 
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Revelation 1:17-18

Moses said, "Please show me your glory." And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen."
Exodus 33:18-23
 
The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.
Exodus 34:5-8

Consistently, the prophets are laid flat on their faces when they behold the glory of God. And as terrifying as God's glory and holiness are-- I want to see His glory! It is a good thing to be on your face before the Lord! =)

Precious Father

I've always known that my Daddy loves me. That's not to say he's perfect. And I was blessed at a very early age that when I thought of God, I thought in terms of all the best characteristics that I saw in Daddy perfected, without any of the negatives. I KNEW that God is a perfect Father. But I am so quick to forget that He loves me. Sometimes I want His love to be mushy-- you know, all happiness and fluff and stuff. But His love is SO MUCH GREATER than that! He loves me too much to allow me to be satisfied with anything less than Himself-- at least, not for long. He is the most Precious Father. =)

Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Psalms 103:1-22

Guidance

I don't know about you, but I pray for guidance often. And usually in conjunction with provision. I've told you before that I tend to worry. I'm actually in a worry cycle right now, and have had a bit of a dry spell spiritually. And in times like these, I find that other Christians are able to better articulate the truth I need.

'Guidance, like all God's acts of blessing under the covenant of grace, is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us his way, that we may tread it; he wills also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that, whatever happens, whatever mistakes we may make, we shall come safely home. Slippings and strayings there will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God's promise; this is how good he is.

Thus it appears that the right context for discussing guidance is one of confidence in the God who will not let us ruin our souls. Our concern, therefore, in this discussion should be more for his glory than for our security-- for that is already taken care of. And our self-distrust, while keeping us humble, must not cloud the joy with which we lean on "the Lord Protector"-- our faithful covenant God.'
~Knowing God by J.I. Packer

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
John 16:12-14
 
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:14-17

Dominate

We put up our Christmas tree last night. It completely DOMINATES our living room! The footprint on this tree is HUGE-- five foot diameter, I measured. And the star is ALMOST touching the ceiling. ;) We've been working our way up from a Charlie Brown style Christmas tree by shopping the after Christmas sales. =) You may wonder why we felt the need to get this massive tree, since our house is small. One of the kids' favorite of our traditions is that we go shopping for ornaments each year. Each person gets to choose a new ornament for the tree. It looks pretty eclectic with Coca Cola cans, dogs, lions, bears, fish, and of course snowmen! ;) But I told Shorty last year that I can't bear-- at this point anyway-- to make the kids choose which ornaments to put on the tree and which don't make it out of the box any given year. So there you have it. I have a tree that is a decorating "don't", and we all LOVE IT!

Where am I going with this today? I was laughing as I thought about the concept of something dominating my life. I was created and redeemed so that Christ can dominate my life. He is doubly worthy to be my King. I thought that one reason that I'm okay with our huge Christmas tree is because, in about a month, it will come down. And I was contemplating how I will often allow something LESS than my King to dominate my life for a season... =(

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Romans 6:9-18

I've been spending my devotions in Revelation. And the scene from Heaven is at the forefront of my mind right now. Let your life be dominated by the One who is Worthy.

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."
Revelation 4:8-11
 
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."
Revelation 5:6-10

Traditions

I love traditions! We have different traditions all year long, but there seem to be a concentration of traditions for us in November and December. From foods to decorations to activities, we spend lots of fun time together. And I hope that in all the fun, my Crew are catching the gospel from me.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
1 Timothy 2:5-6