Tonight our family went to a screening of the movie "The Nativity"...right after Jesus was born, Mary was holding Him, and we got to see a beautiful shot portraying Him as this precious little baby, with all of life ahead of Him.
Caedmon looks up at me, and as innocently as the child that he is, he says, "Mommy...did Jesus lose his front teeth too?"
(all the while, pointing to the empty spot in the front of his mouth, and to the 2nd tooth that is ready to fall out any day)
Isn't that just the BEST! I loved it!
Trust a child to bring a level of humanity to Christ that we learned adults too often skip over.
Fun, isn't it...to picture Jesus as a young boy, with both of His front teeth missing?
Makes me want to be with Him all the more, ...just to hug Him and giggle with Him over the fun I had picturing that in my mind.
I think sometimes I forget His tenderness and vulnerability. I forget that He was fully man, all the while being full Diety.
It's easy to focus on the Diety part.
Tonight, though, I am touched by the sweet reminder that He was also fully man...and as such, that He was also fully baby, fully toddler, fully young boy.
All without sin.
Can you imagine...being the mother to a sinless Child?
How cool that must have been for Mary and Joseph!
Yet, laced with the knowledge of the truth of the Old Testament, they would have had to have known what His future would be...wouldn't they have?
That will be my study tomorrow...to try to discover if Mary and Joseph knew all that was prophesied about Jesus, and what would come for Him.
OK..I HAVE to go to sleep now! What in the world am I doing up at this hour!! :)
Nightie-Night
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Why We Must STAND on The Word..and not on Feelings...
My heart is heavy today for the Haggard family. So heavy.
It has made me stop and ask myself some very searching questions....about me.
I'm the first to say that I have been radically saved from a life of utter destruction. ( Thank you again, LORD.)
My question today has been...now as a "new creation in Christ" and a leader of women's Bible studies, how do I make SURE that the enemy doesn't ever have that kind of control in my life again?
How do I make sure that I never fall, and bring disgrace to the name of Jesus?
Simply put, I can no more sanctify myself than I could save myself.
And, my adversary is constantly at work to try to keep me out of God's Word. Yes...even me who LOVES to study the Word...I think it's his key weapon in the life of the believer.
If he can keep us out of the Word, then our growth is stunted, and our understanding of Who God is and of how He works, and of what He wants for and from us...all of that lies dormant for us if we aren't in His Word.
As I understand Scripture, my job is to daily submit to Christ...to choose to walk in the new nature that He has given me, rather than to exhume the old man (nature) that was buried with Him.
Call me a radical, but I take the Word at face value. And when Romans 6 tells me that I was buried with Him, and resurrected with Him to walk in newness of life...I believe it.
Therefore, I don't refer to myself today as a sinner. That was the old me...the me before being given a new nature. Do I sin still at times? Yes....but, positionally in Christ, I am no longer seen by God as a sinner...I am seen by God as a saint...an heir to the throne...Jesus' own inheritance. ( Whew! What an awesome list, and that's just the beginning of how Scripture identifies the believer!)
So, if God sees me as such, why would I identify myself as the person that I was before Christ? It seems that would be going backwards...and I'd prefer to press onward. :)
And, why would I choose to walk the line?
With our kids, we teach them to ask God to help them see where the line of sin is...where the darkness and light are separated...and to stay MILES away from the line.
It's human to want to know where the line is, and then to stand right next to it, to dance around on top of it, but not go over it.
However, the Word tells us not to even allow for the appearance of evil in our lives.
So...why go near the line?
Isn't dancing on the line allowing for the appearance of evil in our lives?
The other thing I've been pondering today is this...I had someone come to me recently and "prophesy" into my life. Nothing about this prophesy lined up with the Scriptural model of how prophesy is to take place.
( I wouldn't have know that if I wasn't in the Word, though....and might have easily been swayed by this "wind of doctrine", as Ephesians calls it.)
There was no Scripture given to me...just lots of condemnation. And when I asked what Scripture the Lord had laid on this person's heart to share with me, the response was, "Is that the ONLY way anyone can ever "speak into" your life?!".
To which, my response was, "Yes. Definitely. The only way."
We MUST stand on the Word. We MUST trust the sovereignty of God's Word. We MUST allow His Word to form our lives, our hearts, our thinking, our actions.
We MUST. For, if we do not...how will we know the Truth from a lie?
How will we know if we are about to be condemned by someone's "feelings", or if we are being convicted by God's Holy Word and His Holy Spirit?
I do not believe that the Spirit of God EVER speaks apart from the Word of God. EVER. It's not a Scriptural precept.
We cannot allow our relationships with God to be based on emotion, void of His Word. That is enemy playground.
It started in the Garden...the enemy twisting God's Word. If you don't believe me, go to Genesis. See what God said to Adam concerning the tree...and then see what the enemy twisted God's words into.
Don't get me wrong. God created us to have emotions...and I am probably the one that you can count on to spring tears when I speak of my Jesus....but without a knowledge of His Word, our understanding of God and His character is grossly limited.
Every name of God in the Old Testament gives us a new understanding of His character. (That's an amazing study to do, by the way.)
Yet even the Psalmist makes it clear to us that God magnified His Word above His name(s).
(Psa 138:2) I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name.
How can a man (woman) keep his (her) way pure? See Psalm 119:9-10
By keeping it according to His Word.
Good time to take inventory, isn't it? Good time to ask God to take it for us...what areas of OUR lives are we not keeping according to His Word?
Time to surrender it. We'll never win a battle against the flesh in our own power...never. But, He has given us the power through Jesus' work on the cross, and through the indwelling Holy Spirit to live a life of victory to His Glory and honor.
We are more than conquerors! Don't exhume the corpse. Choose to be in The Word, and walk according to all God says in it.
Live as a saint. Not repeatedly telling yourself that you're a sinner.
Pray for the Haggard family. They have a long road ahead of them...but, I was so encouraged to read Mrs. Haggard's letter to their church.
You see, her faith is in her faithful God, who never changes. While her husband may have failed her, God never will. Please, join me in praying for her...and for her husband and family to be restored.
Let's keep them prayed up.
I thank God for the many faithful Christian friends who prayed my marriage into healing. Oh, how I thank Him!
I want to be that kind of friend to Mrs. Haggard now, that kind of sister in Christ...she needs us, church...won't you please join me in praying for her and for their family?
Please, stop now and lift them up in prayer.
In Him,
Jesica
Psa 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
It has made me stop and ask myself some very searching questions....about me.
I'm the first to say that I have been radically saved from a life of utter destruction. ( Thank you again, LORD.)
My question today has been...now as a "new creation in Christ" and a leader of women's Bible studies, how do I make SURE that the enemy doesn't ever have that kind of control in my life again?
How do I make sure that I never fall, and bring disgrace to the name of Jesus?
Simply put, I can no more sanctify myself than I could save myself.
And, my adversary is constantly at work to try to keep me out of God's Word. Yes...even me who LOVES to study the Word...I think it's his key weapon in the life of the believer.
If he can keep us out of the Word, then our growth is stunted, and our understanding of Who God is and of how He works, and of what He wants for and from us...all of that lies dormant for us if we aren't in His Word.
As I understand Scripture, my job is to daily submit to Christ...to choose to walk in the new nature that He has given me, rather than to exhume the old man (nature) that was buried with Him.
Call me a radical, but I take the Word at face value. And when Romans 6 tells me that I was buried with Him, and resurrected with Him to walk in newness of life...I believe it.
Therefore, I don't refer to myself today as a sinner. That was the old me...the me before being given a new nature. Do I sin still at times? Yes....but, positionally in Christ, I am no longer seen by God as a sinner...I am seen by God as a saint...an heir to the throne...Jesus' own inheritance. ( Whew! What an awesome list, and that's just the beginning of how Scripture identifies the believer!)
So, if God sees me as such, why would I identify myself as the person that I was before Christ? It seems that would be going backwards...and I'd prefer to press onward. :)
And, why would I choose to walk the line?
With our kids, we teach them to ask God to help them see where the line of sin is...where the darkness and light are separated...and to stay MILES away from the line.
It's human to want to know where the line is, and then to stand right next to it, to dance around on top of it, but not go over it.
However, the Word tells us not to even allow for the appearance of evil in our lives.
So...why go near the line?
Isn't dancing on the line allowing for the appearance of evil in our lives?
The other thing I've been pondering today is this...I had someone come to me recently and "prophesy" into my life. Nothing about this prophesy lined up with the Scriptural model of how prophesy is to take place.
( I wouldn't have know that if I wasn't in the Word, though....and might have easily been swayed by this "wind of doctrine", as Ephesians calls it.)
There was no Scripture given to me...just lots of condemnation. And when I asked what Scripture the Lord had laid on this person's heart to share with me, the response was, "Is that the ONLY way anyone can ever "speak into" your life?!".
To which, my response was, "Yes. Definitely. The only way."
We MUST stand on the Word. We MUST trust the sovereignty of God's Word. We MUST allow His Word to form our lives, our hearts, our thinking, our actions.
We MUST. For, if we do not...how will we know the Truth from a lie?
How will we know if we are about to be condemned by someone's "feelings", or if we are being convicted by God's Holy Word and His Holy Spirit?
I do not believe that the Spirit of God EVER speaks apart from the Word of God. EVER. It's not a Scriptural precept.
We cannot allow our relationships with God to be based on emotion, void of His Word. That is enemy playground.
It started in the Garden...the enemy twisting God's Word. If you don't believe me, go to Genesis. See what God said to Adam concerning the tree...and then see what the enemy twisted God's words into.
Don't get me wrong. God created us to have emotions...and I am probably the one that you can count on to spring tears when I speak of my Jesus....but without a knowledge of His Word, our understanding of God and His character is grossly limited.
Every name of God in the Old Testament gives us a new understanding of His character. (That's an amazing study to do, by the way.)
Yet even the Psalmist makes it clear to us that God magnified His Word above His name(s).
(Psa 138:2) I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name.
How can a man (woman) keep his (her) way pure? See Psalm 119:9-10
By keeping it according to His Word.
Good time to take inventory, isn't it? Good time to ask God to take it for us...what areas of OUR lives are we not keeping according to His Word?
Time to surrender it. We'll never win a battle against the flesh in our own power...never. But, He has given us the power through Jesus' work on the cross, and through the indwelling Holy Spirit to live a life of victory to His Glory and honor.
We are more than conquerors! Don't exhume the corpse. Choose to be in The Word, and walk according to all God says in it.
Live as a saint. Not repeatedly telling yourself that you're a sinner.
Pray for the Haggard family. They have a long road ahead of them...but, I was so encouraged to read Mrs. Haggard's letter to their church.
You see, her faith is in her faithful God, who never changes. While her husband may have failed her, God never will. Please, join me in praying for her...and for her husband and family to be restored.
Let's keep them prayed up.
I thank God for the many faithful Christian friends who prayed my marriage into healing. Oh, how I thank Him!
I want to be that kind of friend to Mrs. Haggard now, that kind of sister in Christ...she needs us, church...won't you please join me in praying for her and for their family?
Please, stop now and lift them up in prayer.
In Him,
Jesica
Psa 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Precept Bible Studies and Kids...
What I learned from the Word today is that it ministers even to the youngest of hearts. :)
Today was our first Precept Bible Study for kids. I was amazed that we had 15+ kids come, and the vast majority of them were under the age of 6.
We are studying Genesis 1 & 2, and today we studied a few very foundational truths:
1. The Word of God is sufficient...they truly can STAND on the B-I-B-L-E.
2. The Word of God is inspired by God and has several purposes.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17)
3. In Genesis we started seeing the pattern of God saying something and then being told "it was so", or "it was good".
God said...and it was so.
God made...and it was good.
The kids were so fantastic! I loved the contrast between leading children in a Precept Study and in leading adults. The kids are so free...so excited. They don't stop to contemplate whether or not what they're going to say is going to be wrong...they just jump right in with both feet and start "reasoning out the Scriptures".
I LOVE IT!
They had such fun yelling out the key words from Scripture as I made the symbols on the words, as they were on the overhead projection screen.
At one point, we divided into teams, and one team was to yell it out anytime they heard "God said" or "God made" and the other team was to yell out anytime they heard "and it was so" or "and it was good".
Then, we broke 2 Timothy 3:16-17 into individual words and each child got a word ( or two ), and we worked together to put the verse back into order correctly. Without even knowing it, they were saying the verse over and over again, with the hope being that it will cement in their little minds.
I'm so excited about this class...and about seeing so many moms eager to have their children participate.
If you'd like to join us, just e-mail me and I'll give you the details for our meeting time and place.
On a side note...I'm auditioning for a Christian Film tomorrow! I'm so excited! This is a dream come true...just to get to audition is going to be amazing!
To God be the Glory!
Jesica
Today was our first Precept Bible Study for kids. I was amazed that we had 15+ kids come, and the vast majority of them were under the age of 6.
We are studying Genesis 1 & 2, and today we studied a few very foundational truths:
1. The Word of God is sufficient...they truly can STAND on the B-I-B-L-E.
2. The Word of God is inspired by God and has several purposes.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17)
3. In Genesis we started seeing the pattern of God saying something and then being told "it was so", or "it was good".
God said...and it was so.
God made...and it was good.
The kids were so fantastic! I loved the contrast between leading children in a Precept Study and in leading adults. The kids are so free...so excited. They don't stop to contemplate whether or not what they're going to say is going to be wrong...they just jump right in with both feet and start "reasoning out the Scriptures".
I LOVE IT!
They had such fun yelling out the key words from Scripture as I made the symbols on the words, as they were on the overhead projection screen.
At one point, we divided into teams, and one team was to yell it out anytime they heard "God said" or "God made" and the other team was to yell out anytime they heard "and it was so" or "and it was good".
Then, we broke 2 Timothy 3:16-17 into individual words and each child got a word ( or two ), and we worked together to put the verse back into order correctly. Without even knowing it, they were saying the verse over and over again, with the hope being that it will cement in their little minds.
I'm so excited about this class...and about seeing so many moms eager to have their children participate.
If you'd like to join us, just e-mail me and I'll give you the details for our meeting time and place.
On a side note...I'm auditioning for a Christian Film tomorrow! I'm so excited! This is a dream come true...just to get to audition is going to be amazing!
To God be the Glory!
Jesica
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