Today was a GREAT day!
As our family was sitting down enjoying lunch together today, Caedmon said, "Mom and Dad, I need to tell you something".
"What is it, Caedmon?"
"God is calling me to be baptized."
WOW! Not what we expected him to say, but he was as serious as a judge. We could tell that he had been thinking about this, and had decided that the time to tell us had arrived.
"Wow, Caedmon. That's great!", I said.
Then Shane asked him to tell us when he thought that God had called him to do this.
Clear as day, Caedmon said, "Friday morning, when we were on the way to the Dollar Store to get things for Precept class."
Amazing! So Caedmon had been thinking about this since Friday!
So, we talked to him at length about what baptism is...about what it means to be in covenant with Christ, and how baptism is the first act of obedience that God asks of us after we repent of our sins, and confess our need for Christ.
It's amazing to me how much this little guy understands.
I asked him, "Caedmon, why did Jesus raise from the dead to the glory of the Father?"
He said, "So we could walk in newness of life."
"YES!", said Mom.
Then I asked him, "Why did Christ die on the cross?".
"To pay for my sins, and so I wouldn't have to pay for them myself."
"Yes!"
If Christ hadn't of died on the cross for your sins, how would you have paid for them?
"By dying".
"Yes!"
Then we talked with him about how being baptized is his way of saying to the LORD and to those in his life, "I am laying my life down, and taking up Christ's life. I will no longer be living for myself, but for Christ. My life is not about me."
I really wanted him to understand that, especially in light of all that I've been learning in the Precept Covenant class.
Praise God, he understands. As much as any of us can, I believe that he does.
On and on the conversation went. It was so important to both Shane and I to KNOW that Caedmon understood what he was wanting to do.
It was clear that he did. No question about it.
So, we asked him who he would like to invite over to witness with us, and without hesitation, he said he wanted his friend Jonathan to be here.
Then we talked about the different people who he could choose from to actually baptize him, and he wanted his Daddy to do it.
We called Jonathan's family, and asked if they would come and be with us.
Then we went to 3 stores to choose a cake to celebrate this great day...he found just the right one at store #3. :)
And, then Shane and I got into the pool with Caedmon, and stood by his side as he confessed Christ to his family and friends.
He explained when it was that he had accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. We are amazed that he still remembers the day...it was in 2004, yet he still remembers it clearly.
Then he explained to everyone what he was doing in being baptized..and why he wanted to be.
It was so beautiful!
When he came up out of the water, he was so full of JOY that I thought he was going to explode!
What an awesome day it turned out to be!
What joy to share this with our son!
What a special little guy we have!
Tonight, before he went to bed, he said, "Mommy, what does it feel like to know that your little boy just got baptized today?".
I told him that there weren't words to express how happy I am...and that I know his Daddy is too!
Thank You, LORD!
Thank You for loving my little boy more than even I do, and thank You for sealing him with your Holy Spirit until the day of Your Son's return!
Hallelujah! To God be the Glory!
Pictures to come soon. :)
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
What Brings Me Joy...
The Joy of The Lord is my Strength!Habakkuk 3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
I love the above picture. It was taken about 3 years ago, when the children had their first trip to the beach.
I found it today, and when I looked at it I realized that everything I see in that picture is something that I love passionately, and something that God created to bring me joy.
The beach.
The ocean.
The BIG blue exspanse of sky.
The white clouds in the air.
One lone bird flying with his wings outstretched...oh, to be able to fly!
And, my precious little children...what a gift they are!
Seeing this picture, with Brennan tagging along behind Caedmon tells such a story for me. He really is her hero. The two of them love each other so much..they play for HOURS together every day.
Caedmon considers himself to be her soldier. He protects her, he treats her like a lady.
Brennan loves learning from Caedmon. Right now he is teaching her how to read, as he learns..he shares with her.
Sometimes life gets hard. This week has been especially tough. Learning that our friends' daughter is so sick...it has just about broken our hearts.
But then, I find a picture like this, that reminds me of all that is precious in my life...and once again, I am reminded that the JOY of the LORD is my strength.
Hope you will be encouraged today rejoice in the Lord, and that you will joy in the God of your Salvation.
In Him,
Jesica
Friday, April 27, 2007
The Difference Between Obedience and Legalism
The difference between obedience and legalism is massive.
Legalism is defined as "excessive conformity to a religious code".
Obedience is defined as "submissive to the restraint or command of authority".
When we look at these 2 definitions in light of our Heavenly Father, the gulf between the 2 is wide.
Legalism is following a code, a creed, a tradition of man that God never called us to follow. Legalism is "doing church" ( i.e. making it all look good on Sunday all the while living to serve self Monday - Saturday)instead of hanging on every word that God has given us as a guide for our lives.
Has God truly given us a guide? Yes! Without a doubt. It's called the Bible..His Holy and inspired Word.
Are we to learn and live by all of it, or only by part of it?
Romans 15:4 says, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
2 Timothy 3:14-17 says, "You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
Think about this for a minute...when the letter to Timothy was written by Paul, it was written one Jewish man to another. These were men who KNEW the Old Testament. These were men who had referred to the Old Testament as Scripture for most of their lives.
What were the "sacred writings" Paul references?
What gave Timothy the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus?
According the the above verse from Romans, why were the Scriptures of the Old Testament written?
Think about it logically for a minute...if you ever have an opportunity to share the truth that Yeshua is the promised Messiah of Israel with a Jewish person who knows the Old Testament, don't you think the above verse would be an encouragement to them?
How in the WORLD could you hope to share Christ with a Jew who knows the Old Testament and for ONE MINUTE toss it aside?!
Throughout the Old Testament, the picture of Christ is painted. Over and over again the stories of the Old Testament are replete with signs pointing to the Redeemer of Israel.
Even aside from all of that, though...there are truths throughout the Old Testament that the Gentile believer must hold to.
Am I saying that we are bound to the law? Not for a minute.
Do I believe that as a Christian, there are truths and precepts from the Old Testament that God wants me to know and live by? ABSOLUTELY!
Does it make one legalistic to want to walk in obedience to God?
Not at all! Not for a minute!
Wanna be a Jonah? Not me!
Does it make one more "grace oriented" if they just live their life however they please, unwilling to submit to the command of the authority of God?
No! It makes one disobedient! Period!
Paul addresses that in Romans 6:1-2 when he says, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"
Grace is not a license to FREE LOAD!
I remember when I was a new believer, and had just bowed my knee totally to God. I had truly decided to walk in obedience to Him...having come to the end of my free-loading, grace-loading, lip-smacking life.
God's call of obedience on my life was big. It looked something like this:
Give up your 6 figure income.
Say goodbye to your fancy new dream car.
Stay home and learn to be a wife and get into My Word.
Deal with family members who will malign you and won't understand your decisions.
Lose some friends who will think you've lost it because you won't cuss and party anymore.
Stop shopping in boutiques and learn to love WalMart clothes, because that's all you'll be able to afford.
Go from being the giver to learning to receive.
Get off your high-horse and learn to walk in humility.
Commit to love your husband, even though this will be the hardest part of your walk of obedience, until I ( the LORD ) deal with him.
Oh...and, submit to your husband, even though you don't want to, don't think you should have to, and don't think he's worthy of it.
Really..the list goes on and on.
Well, right about the time that God was teaching me to live a life of obedience to Him, Shane and I went and visited at a church of one of my relatives. FROM THE PULPIT, the pastor said, "Obedience does not bring God's blessing."
WAIT A MINUTE! STOP THE PRESSES! THIS IS NEWS TO ME!!!!
What HOCUS POCUS!!
Show me ONE PLACE..just ONE, that the Bible says that.
YOU CANNOT FIND IT! It is not there!
Now, do we obey in order to be blessed? I don't think that's God model or desire for us. I believe that the heart desire needs to be a reverence for God, and a love for Him.
However, the character of God is that He does bless obedience.
Some in my life do not understand the choices that I make in order to obey God's call on my life. That's ok. It's really not about anyone but me and my Lord, and my husband.
I can assure you that when I stand before the throne, and God holds me accountable for the choices I made here on earth, those people won't be saying, "Hey God! That time that she buckled and did it MY way instead of Yours...why don't You talk to me about it instead of her, because it's really my fault."
Recently, I was at a ministry event, and I was to be the one picking up people from the airport. At one point, I realized that I was scheduled to pick up a man, and that it would just be the 2 of us.
Well, Shane and I have an agreement that we don't spend time alone with people of the opposite sex. It's a boundary that God has made CLEAR in our lives, and it's not one that we cross for anybody, because to do so would be to disobey our Lord.
So, I had to ask the person in charge if someone else could go with me, or if someone else could pick this man up. It wasn't an easy thing to ask..because I didn't know if they'd "get it" or not. I still don't know if they "got it", but what I do know is that they were gracious to respect my request, and it all worked out fine.
And..interestingly enough, that man has become quite special to Shane and I..and now his wife too, and when the opportunity arose to discuss a similar situation with him, I was so HAPPY to know that this is a boundary that they have in their marriage too!
So...some will "get it", some will not, some will think you're crazy when you choose to obey God in light of looking foolish or legalistic.
Will that determine how you respond, or will your love for the LORD, and your desire to obey Him determine your decisions?
Look at an example of someone who did it his way...maybe what God was asking of him just didn't make sense to him...or maybe his friends all thought he was being legalistic...
Then Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD.
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. 'Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"
Then Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.
Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley.
Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
So Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Samuel Rebukes Saul Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
"I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands " And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night.
Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal."
Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD."
But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"
Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed."
Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait, and let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak!"
Samuel said, "Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed you king over Israel,
and the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.'
"Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD?"
Then Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of the LORD, and went on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
"But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal."
Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."
Hmmm...interesting, isn't it?
Partial obedience turned out to be total disobedience for King Saul, didn't it?
Learning to walk in obedience to God has been the most freeing thing He has taught me. I mean, how arrogant of me to think for a minute that I know better than God does, anyway!
If He holds all in His hands, and if He loves me beyond my imagination, why WOULDN'T I want to obey Him?
I remember when I learned that the word "submit" in the Greek means to place one's self under one's rightful authority"...it changed my understanding of what it meant to submit to my husband.
God has order. And in His kingdom, my husband is my rightful authority, as Christ is his.
It just works. Christ over Shane, Shane over me.
The key though, is that I am the one doing the submitting..I'm not being beaten over the head to submit. Big difference. I'm being loved, and cherished, and sacrificed for....all by my husband as Christ for His church.
Why would I NOT want to place myself under a man who treats me like that?
Yes, there were YEARS when our marriage didn't look like that...but STILL God called me to submit to Shane..and you know what happened as a result? God was glorified and God used my choices to walk in obedience by submitting to Shane, to draw Shane to Himself.
It was tough...but OH MY GOODNESS it was SOOO worth it!
Today I am married to the man of my dreams, who is as in love with the LORD as I am. My cherished friend, my gift from God, my covering, my head, my HUBBA-HUBBA! :)
Obeying my husband and obeying my LORD are not legalism. They are acts that give me freedom and joy and blessing.
Obeying the LORD will give you freedom too. God doesn't want you to live in bondage to yourself, or to your flesh.
Surrender it to Him, and trust Him as He leads you in a walk of obedience to Him.
If you belong to Him, your life is not your own...so get out of the way and let God reign supreme through you!
Legalism=Bad
Obedience has been very good to me. :)
In love,
Jes
Legalism is defined as "excessive conformity to a religious code".
Obedience is defined as "submissive to the restraint or command of authority".
When we look at these 2 definitions in light of our Heavenly Father, the gulf between the 2 is wide.
Legalism is following a code, a creed, a tradition of man that God never called us to follow. Legalism is "doing church" ( i.e. making it all look good on Sunday all the while living to serve self Monday - Saturday)instead of hanging on every word that God has given us as a guide for our lives.
Has God truly given us a guide? Yes! Without a doubt. It's called the Bible..His Holy and inspired Word.
Are we to learn and live by all of it, or only by part of it?
Romans 15:4 says, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
2 Timothy 3:14-17 says, "You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
Think about this for a minute...when the letter to Timothy was written by Paul, it was written one Jewish man to another. These were men who KNEW the Old Testament. These were men who had referred to the Old Testament as Scripture for most of their lives.
What were the "sacred writings" Paul references?
What gave Timothy the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus?
According the the above verse from Romans, why were the Scriptures of the Old Testament written?
Think about it logically for a minute...if you ever have an opportunity to share the truth that Yeshua is the promised Messiah of Israel with a Jewish person who knows the Old Testament, don't you think the above verse would be an encouragement to them?
How in the WORLD could you hope to share Christ with a Jew who knows the Old Testament and for ONE MINUTE toss it aside?!
Throughout the Old Testament, the picture of Christ is painted. Over and over again the stories of the Old Testament are replete with signs pointing to the Redeemer of Israel.
Even aside from all of that, though...there are truths throughout the Old Testament that the Gentile believer must hold to.
Am I saying that we are bound to the law? Not for a minute.
Do I believe that as a Christian, there are truths and precepts from the Old Testament that God wants me to know and live by? ABSOLUTELY!
Does it make one legalistic to want to walk in obedience to God?
Not at all! Not for a minute!
Wanna be a Jonah? Not me!
Does it make one more "grace oriented" if they just live their life however they please, unwilling to submit to the command of the authority of God?
No! It makes one disobedient! Period!
Paul addresses that in Romans 6:1-2 when he says, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"
Grace is not a license to FREE LOAD!
I remember when I was a new believer, and had just bowed my knee totally to God. I had truly decided to walk in obedience to Him...having come to the end of my free-loading, grace-loading, lip-smacking life.
God's call of obedience on my life was big. It looked something like this:
Give up your 6 figure income.
Say goodbye to your fancy new dream car.
Stay home and learn to be a wife and get into My Word.
Deal with family members who will malign you and won't understand your decisions.
Lose some friends who will think you've lost it because you won't cuss and party anymore.
Stop shopping in boutiques and learn to love WalMart clothes, because that's all you'll be able to afford.
Go from being the giver to learning to receive.
Get off your high-horse and learn to walk in humility.
Commit to love your husband, even though this will be the hardest part of your walk of obedience, until I ( the LORD ) deal with him.
Oh...and, submit to your husband, even though you don't want to, don't think you should have to, and don't think he's worthy of it.
Really..the list goes on and on.
Well, right about the time that God was teaching me to live a life of obedience to Him, Shane and I went and visited at a church of one of my relatives. FROM THE PULPIT, the pastor said, "Obedience does not bring God's blessing."
WAIT A MINUTE! STOP THE PRESSES! THIS IS NEWS TO ME!!!!
What HOCUS POCUS!!
Show me ONE PLACE..just ONE, that the Bible says that.
YOU CANNOT FIND IT! It is not there!
Now, do we obey in order to be blessed? I don't think that's God model or desire for us. I believe that the heart desire needs to be a reverence for God, and a love for Him.
However, the character of God is that He does bless obedience.
Some in my life do not understand the choices that I make in order to obey God's call on my life. That's ok. It's really not about anyone but me and my Lord, and my husband.
I can assure you that when I stand before the throne, and God holds me accountable for the choices I made here on earth, those people won't be saying, "Hey God! That time that she buckled and did it MY way instead of Yours...why don't You talk to me about it instead of her, because it's really my fault."
Recently, I was at a ministry event, and I was to be the one picking up people from the airport. At one point, I realized that I was scheduled to pick up a man, and that it would just be the 2 of us.
Well, Shane and I have an agreement that we don't spend time alone with people of the opposite sex. It's a boundary that God has made CLEAR in our lives, and it's not one that we cross for anybody, because to do so would be to disobey our Lord.
So, I had to ask the person in charge if someone else could go with me, or if someone else could pick this man up. It wasn't an easy thing to ask..because I didn't know if they'd "get it" or not. I still don't know if they "got it", but what I do know is that they were gracious to respect my request, and it all worked out fine.
And..interestingly enough, that man has become quite special to Shane and I..and now his wife too, and when the opportunity arose to discuss a similar situation with him, I was so HAPPY to know that this is a boundary that they have in their marriage too!
So...some will "get it", some will not, some will think you're crazy when you choose to obey God in light of looking foolish or legalistic.
Will that determine how you respond, or will your love for the LORD, and your desire to obey Him determine your decisions?
Look at an example of someone who did it his way...maybe what God was asking of him just didn't make sense to him...or maybe his friends all thought he was being legalistic...
Then Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD.
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. 'Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'"
Then Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.
Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley.
Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
So Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Samuel Rebukes Saul Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
"I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands " And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night.
Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal."
Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD."
But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"
Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed."
Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait, and let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak!"
Samuel said, "Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed you king over Israel,
and the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.'
"Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD?"
Then Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of the LORD, and went on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
"But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal."
Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."
Hmmm...interesting, isn't it?
Partial obedience turned out to be total disobedience for King Saul, didn't it?
Learning to walk in obedience to God has been the most freeing thing He has taught me. I mean, how arrogant of me to think for a minute that I know better than God does, anyway!
If He holds all in His hands, and if He loves me beyond my imagination, why WOULDN'T I want to obey Him?
I remember when I learned that the word "submit" in the Greek means to place one's self under one's rightful authority"...it changed my understanding of what it meant to submit to my husband.
God has order. And in His kingdom, my husband is my rightful authority, as Christ is his.
It just works. Christ over Shane, Shane over me.
The key though, is that I am the one doing the submitting..I'm not being beaten over the head to submit. Big difference. I'm being loved, and cherished, and sacrificed for....all by my husband as Christ for His church.
Why would I NOT want to place myself under a man who treats me like that?
Yes, there were YEARS when our marriage didn't look like that...but STILL God called me to submit to Shane..and you know what happened as a result? God was glorified and God used my choices to walk in obedience by submitting to Shane, to draw Shane to Himself.
It was tough...but OH MY GOODNESS it was SOOO worth it!
Today I am married to the man of my dreams, who is as in love with the LORD as I am. My cherished friend, my gift from God, my covering, my head, my HUBBA-HUBBA! :)
Obeying my husband and obeying my LORD are not legalism. They are acts that give me freedom and joy and blessing.
Obeying the LORD will give you freedom too. God doesn't want you to live in bondage to yourself, or to your flesh.
Surrender it to Him, and trust Him as He leads you in a walk of obedience to Him.
If you belong to Him, your life is not your own...so get out of the way and let God reign supreme through you!
Legalism=Bad
Obedience has been very good to me. :)
In love,
Jes
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
URGENT Prayer Request
I just sent this out via e-mail to our friends who are in Precept classes with us, and to our homeschooling friends. However, for those who read this blog from other parts of the world, would you please join us all in prayer?
Dear Precious Friends and Fellow Soldiers for Christ,
I had every intention of calling you each personally to ask you to pray, but I can't get past the heart breaking sobs that keep breaking through each time I try to speak.
I just received a phone call from a friend, Kim H. Some of you may remember her, as she visited the Monday night study one time.
She is the best of friends with Kim and Brian D, whose home we have the Thursday night study in. Kim is in our Covenant study as well.
Well, the D family left this past Sunday to go to California for vacation, and at the last minute, their friends the H family decided to join them there a few days later.
While there, Kayleigh D, who is 12, started to not feel so well, and her mom saw spots on her skin..so they went into Urgent Care. While there, they had blood drawn, and found that Kayleigh has virtually no iron in her blood, and that her white blood cell count is very low.
So, they are transferring her to Childrens Hospital. A doctor told her mom that he thinks it's leukemia. They will admit Kayleigh and will do more testing on her. She is on an IV already, and that's about all that I know.
PLEASE join us in prayer for this precious family. We love them so much..in a very short time they have become very special to us, as I know they have to so many of you who are in Precept classes with them.
Already, even in the midst of this, we can see God's hand at work. Pray that we'll see more and more of His sovereignty shine through in the upcoming days.
1. They are at one of the best Childrens Hospitals in the country.
2. They have some of their most loved and cherished and Biblically gounded friends with them.
3. They have both been steeping themselves in God's Word over the past few months.
4. They are not alone.
Please pray that all that they've been learning from God's Word will be a great comfort and strength to them right now.
Please pray that God's perfect will be done in this situation, and that He will be glorified through all they say and do.
Please pray that some lost person(s) at that hospital will come to Christ as they watch how the D family trusts the Lord through this trial.
Please pray that God will heal Kayleigh, in Jesus' name.
I am going to order a bouquet for Kayleigh, and will send it out asap. If you would like to contribute to it, that would be super. I will be addressing it from the Monday and Thursday night Precept classes.
We love you all, and thank you for loving the Lord and co-laboring for the cause of Christ.
Thank you for your prayers that I know you will send up for the D family, and for Kayleigh.
To His Glory...
Jesica
Dear Precious Friends and Fellow Soldiers for Christ,
I had every intention of calling you each personally to ask you to pray, but I can't get past the heart breaking sobs that keep breaking through each time I try to speak.
I just received a phone call from a friend, Kim H. Some of you may remember her, as she visited the Monday night study one time.
She is the best of friends with Kim and Brian D, whose home we have the Thursday night study in. Kim is in our Covenant study as well.
Well, the D family left this past Sunday to go to California for vacation, and at the last minute, their friends the H family decided to join them there a few days later.
While there, Kayleigh D, who is 12, started to not feel so well, and her mom saw spots on her skin..so they went into Urgent Care. While there, they had blood drawn, and found that Kayleigh has virtually no iron in her blood, and that her white blood cell count is very low.
So, they are transferring her to Childrens Hospital. A doctor told her mom that he thinks it's leukemia. They will admit Kayleigh and will do more testing on her. She is on an IV already, and that's about all that I know.
PLEASE join us in prayer for this precious family. We love them so much..in a very short time they have become very special to us, as I know they have to so many of you who are in Precept classes with them.
Already, even in the midst of this, we can see God's hand at work. Pray that we'll see more and more of His sovereignty shine through in the upcoming days.
1. They are at one of the best Childrens Hospitals in the country.
2. They have some of their most loved and cherished and Biblically gounded friends with them.
3. They have both been steeping themselves in God's Word over the past few months.
4. They are not alone.
Please pray that all that they've been learning from God's Word will be a great comfort and strength to them right now.
Please pray that God's perfect will be done in this situation, and that He will be glorified through all they say and do.
Please pray that some lost person(s) at that hospital will come to Christ as they watch how the D family trusts the Lord through this trial.
Please pray that God will heal Kayleigh, in Jesus' name.
I am going to order a bouquet for Kayleigh, and will send it out asap. If you would like to contribute to it, that would be super. I will be addressing it from the Monday and Thursday night Precept classes.
We love you all, and thank you for loving the Lord and co-laboring for the cause of Christ.
Thank you for your prayers that I know you will send up for the D family, and for Kayleigh.
To His Glory...
Jesica
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
I was only ACTING!
This is my imitation of my husband, but he doesn't wear earrings! :)
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Putting on a Heart of Humility
Humility..it's the word that the children in the Precept class are working on this week.
We're studying through Colossians 3:12, and are learning how to put on a heart in keeping with the new man, or the "newness of life" that we are promised in Romans 6:4, through Christ.
The first two characteristics that they learned about were kindness and compassion. Those seemed so much easier to explain to little children. They "got" those concepts, and rather quickly.
But..humility? I had a hard time trying to figure out how to teach them about humility.
Eventually, we acted again. And they seemed to get it.
I set up a "scene" with two of the children. Then I asked them both to sing a song, and told them that after they sang the song, I was going to compliment them..and then I explained to them how I wanted them to respond.
One said, "Oh, I know. I'm really gifted. I have a great voice. I'm glad you got to hear it!"
The other said, "Thank you. But, give the glory to God. He is the one who gave me this voice to bless Him and to bless you. The glory is His alone."
The kids INSTANTLY understood the difference.
That's what I think humility is. And, when I think of the first example we have of one who refused to walk in humility, I think of Lucifer.
He wanted to be glorified. He wanted to be like God. He wanted the praise. He forgot that all praise belongs to God alone.
By contrast, we have Jesus, of whom the Scripture says in Phillipians 2:5, "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied (laid aside His priviledges) Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men."
Wow! Our Savior, God the Son, when here on earth did not regard equality with God a think to be siezed!
He knew that He was a bond-servant to God Most High. Period! That was His role here on earth..to listen and obey God.
That's the believer's sole role too.
When we focus more on being right, then we do on emptying ourselves, we've missed the heart of Christ altogether.
That's what I hope the children learned. In order to truly "put on" a heart of humility, we must be willing to realize that we aren't here to be exalted.
We are here only to be used of God that He may be exalted in our lives...for His glory.
We'll see how the kids seemed to understand it, this week when we meet again.
They get to come to class and share examples of ways that they walked in the heart characteristic that we learned the week before.
It's so precious to see them learning to walk in newness of life..and to see how excited they are about it!
I love these kids so much! They bless me every single week by their hunger for God's Word.
It amazes me..we don't do any crafts..we don't have play time...we are just learning to study God's Word, and they are learning to interrogate the text by asking the 5Ws and an H questions.
They're marking key words, and making lists of what they learn from those words...then they have time to discuss what they see in Scripture...interpretation and application flow quickly for these little ones, but only because we spend the BULK of our time in observation.
Already they are learning not to jump from observation to interpretation...they are learning that God is the teacher, and He will show them how to interpret His Word, but that they must be faithful to spend time observing first.
We are also memorizing Scripture together by acting it out.
Everything we do during our class is based in God's Word, and their moms tell me that they can't WAIT to come to class!
It's so refreshing...even at these young ages... they aren't looking to be entertained...they are just hungry for the truth of God's Word.
What a blessing to be a part of their learning!
Oh that we would all be this hungry for the truth of God's Word instead of the philosophies of man.
These kids inspire me!
Have a great week,
Jesica
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We're studying through Colossians 3:12, and are learning how to put on a heart in keeping with the new man, or the "newness of life" that we are promised in Romans 6:4, through Christ.
The first two characteristics that they learned about were kindness and compassion. Those seemed so much easier to explain to little children. They "got" those concepts, and rather quickly.
But..humility? I had a hard time trying to figure out how to teach them about humility.
Eventually, we acted again. And they seemed to get it.
I set up a "scene" with two of the children. Then I asked them both to sing a song, and told them that after they sang the song, I was going to compliment them..and then I explained to them how I wanted them to respond.
One said, "Oh, I know. I'm really gifted. I have a great voice. I'm glad you got to hear it!"
The other said, "Thank you. But, give the glory to God. He is the one who gave me this voice to bless Him and to bless you. The glory is His alone."
The kids INSTANTLY understood the difference.
That's what I think humility is. And, when I think of the first example we have of one who refused to walk in humility, I think of Lucifer.
He wanted to be glorified. He wanted to be like God. He wanted the praise. He forgot that all praise belongs to God alone.
By contrast, we have Jesus, of whom the Scripture says in Phillipians 2:5, "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied (laid aside His priviledges) Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men."
Wow! Our Savior, God the Son, when here on earth did not regard equality with God a think to be siezed!
He knew that He was a bond-servant to God Most High. Period! That was His role here on earth..to listen and obey God.
That's the believer's sole role too.
When we focus more on being right, then we do on emptying ourselves, we've missed the heart of Christ altogether.
That's what I hope the children learned. In order to truly "put on" a heart of humility, we must be willing to realize that we aren't here to be exalted.
We are here only to be used of God that He may be exalted in our lives...for His glory.
We'll see how the kids seemed to understand it, this week when we meet again.
They get to come to class and share examples of ways that they walked in the heart characteristic that we learned the week before.
It's so precious to see them learning to walk in newness of life..and to see how excited they are about it!
I love these kids so much! They bless me every single week by their hunger for God's Word.
It amazes me..we don't do any crafts..we don't have play time...we are just learning to study God's Word, and they are learning to interrogate the text by asking the 5Ws and an H questions.
They're marking key words, and making lists of what they learn from those words...then they have time to discuss what they see in Scripture...interpretation and application flow quickly for these little ones, but only because we spend the BULK of our time in observation.
Already they are learning not to jump from observation to interpretation...they are learning that God is the teacher, and He will show them how to interpret His Word, but that they must be faithful to spend time observing first.
We are also memorizing Scripture together by acting it out.
Everything we do during our class is based in God's Word, and their moms tell me that they can't WAIT to come to class!
It's so refreshing...even at these young ages... they aren't looking to be entertained...they are just hungry for the truth of God's Word.
What a blessing to be a part of their learning!
Oh that we would all be this hungry for the truth of God's Word instead of the philosophies of man.
These kids inspire me!
Have a great week,
Jesica
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Monday, April 23, 2007
Why Studying with Couples is GREAT!
Last week, in our Precept couples study, our discussion was so GREAT!
We were digging into the first book of Jonah, and althought I had done my homework, to a degree that I thought was very thorough, I was amazed by all that I had missed.
Yes, I had marked the key words. Yes, I had made the lists...
But, OH MY GOODNESS!
When the men in our group started talking about how they had used the 5Ws and an H to interrogate the Scripture, and then shared what they had seen...I was blown away by all that I had missed!
I love how God crafted men and women differently, and that his perfect design goes all the way to how we think, how we see things.
I've never been in a co-ed Precept class before, and I have to say, I love this one!
Of all the times that I had studied Jonah, I never before saw that the sailors on that boat headed for Tarshish, ended up making a sacrifice and pledging a vow to Jehova Elohim.
Yet, that's exactly what they did!
They had cried out to their own gods, which did nothing for them.
Then Jonah finally identified himself as a Hebrew, and said that he feared Jehova Elohim. So, then the sailors sought Jonah's wisdom on how to make the sea calm again.
Finally, they did as Jonah told them to do..and the Word says they, "Called on the LORD" and prayed to Him.
Amazing, isn't it?!
Even in the midst of one of God's own walking in total disobedience to Him, God was still glorified in the lives of some men who were lost in idol worship.
God showed Himself Supreme, and as a result, these men worshipped Him.
The other thing that was of huge note, was to see that Jonah went DIRECTLY OPPOSITE of where God called him to go.
You can see it on a map.
Gotta go. Doorbell.
More later.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Beautiful Blessing to Yeshua
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M4_IlbaZHA
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I just watched this with the kids, and then asked them, if Jesus were here right now, and you could say something to Him face to face, what would you say?
Caedmon, usually my verbal one, said, "Thank you".
Brennan said, "I yuv you!" (translation....love you)
Hope you enjoy this.
The thing about this that spoke volumes to me is the fact that the man who did the painting, took no credit at all for himself. Even to the point of wearing a jacket with a hood so that he wasn't the focus, but Jesus was.
That's how I want to live my life.
So that God gets all the glory, and I am in the shadows.
Hope you have a great day!
Jesica
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Saturday, April 14, 2007
What I learned from My Friend Today....
I encourage you to read the note below. It is from a precious friend of mine who has cancer for the 2nd time. Last time it was lymphoma, this time it's breast cancer.
She just "gets it". She realizes that sometimes, to accomplish His greater plans, God allows painful things to happen to us. Maybe it's cancer, like she has...maybe it's the loss of those you love, like we've been through....maybe it's any number of things.
The main point remains the same...to glorify God no matter what. To walk in obedience to Him no matter how hard. To know that He loves you more than you can ever imagine, and that He will not allow ONE SINGLE THING into your life that He can't be glorified through.
NOT ONE!
I had someone tell me recently that if I just had enough faith, God would heal my children. That they wouldn't keep getting so sick if only I "named it and claimed it".
This is such false teaching! So very false, and so damaging to those who don't know the character of God well enough yet to know that it's false!
My friend "gets it". I hope after you read her note, you do too.
Reading her note makes me wonder if all of those other cancer patients and nurses and doctors have any idea how many people are praying for them....for their spiritual healing, and their eternal security more than anything!
It also makes me wonder if anyone would have been praying for them, had not God allowed my friend another bout with cancer. Maybe God needed a soldier at the Cancer Center?
Obviously so.
In love,
Jes
Dear Friends - A quick update: Very thankful for chemo this week! That completes #6- HALFWAY DONE!
My infection appears to finally be on the mend- and Valley Fever testing came back negative- Yeah!
It has long been confirmed in my heart that Jesus loves me no matter my circumstances- the more challenges I've faced and the more deeply I have experienced His love and provision, the stronger this conviction becomes.
My Bible Study reading this week was a refreshing reflection of what I know to be true: "We naturally think if God answers a prayer or grants a miraculous healing, it is because He loves us. If we pray and the answer is no, we question God's love. But beloved, healing or answered prayer has absolutely nothing to do with whether he loves you. It has to do with God's purposes and plans for your life.When circumstances tempt you to question God's love, learn to look in the right place.
John 13:1 tells us: "It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, He now showed them the extent of His love." ~Living Free, Beth Moore
What a great Easter reminder: His "cup" did not pass- so that we can all drink deeply of forgiveness!
God's love is constant, and our prayers bring us into deeper intimacy with Him... bless you for remembering our family and other cancer patients I have met these past 6 weeks: Vera Carol Mike June Wendy Norm and nurses: Martha, Barbara, Chris, Amber, Sam, Lydia, Tammy... and of course Dr. Kass.
I believe what goes on at the Cancer Center are "holy ground" experiences...I feel most privileged to be treated there with such loving care. Grateful for you, dear ones! Love, K
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She just "gets it". She realizes that sometimes, to accomplish His greater plans, God allows painful things to happen to us. Maybe it's cancer, like she has...maybe it's the loss of those you love, like we've been through....maybe it's any number of things.
The main point remains the same...to glorify God no matter what. To walk in obedience to Him no matter how hard. To know that He loves you more than you can ever imagine, and that He will not allow ONE SINGLE THING into your life that He can't be glorified through.
NOT ONE!
I had someone tell me recently that if I just had enough faith, God would heal my children. That they wouldn't keep getting so sick if only I "named it and claimed it".
This is such false teaching! So very false, and so damaging to those who don't know the character of God well enough yet to know that it's false!
My friend "gets it". I hope after you read her note, you do too.
Reading her note makes me wonder if all of those other cancer patients and nurses and doctors have any idea how many people are praying for them....for their spiritual healing, and their eternal security more than anything!
It also makes me wonder if anyone would have been praying for them, had not God allowed my friend another bout with cancer. Maybe God needed a soldier at the Cancer Center?
Obviously so.
In love,
Jes
Dear Friends - A quick update: Very thankful for chemo this week! That completes #6- HALFWAY DONE!
My infection appears to finally be on the mend- and Valley Fever testing came back negative- Yeah!
It has long been confirmed in my heart that Jesus loves me no matter my circumstances- the more challenges I've faced and the more deeply I have experienced His love and provision, the stronger this conviction becomes.
My Bible Study reading this week was a refreshing reflection of what I know to be true: "We naturally think if God answers a prayer or grants a miraculous healing, it is because He loves us. If we pray and the answer is no, we question God's love. But beloved, healing or answered prayer has absolutely nothing to do with whether he loves you. It has to do with God's purposes and plans for your life.When circumstances tempt you to question God's love, learn to look in the right place.
John 13:1 tells us: "It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, He now showed them the extent of His love." ~Living Free, Beth Moore
What a great Easter reminder: His "cup" did not pass- so that we can all drink deeply of forgiveness!
God's love is constant, and our prayers bring us into deeper intimacy with Him... bless you for remembering our family and other cancer patients I have met these past 6 weeks: Vera Carol Mike June Wendy Norm and nurses: Martha, Barbara, Chris, Amber, Sam, Lydia, Tammy... and of course Dr. Kass.
I believe what goes on at the Cancer Center are "holy ground" experiences...I feel most privileged to be treated there with such loving care. Grateful for you, dear ones! Love, K
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Friday, April 13, 2007
Radio Time
I had the priviledge of sharing our life's passion..our vision and mission, with Dr. Randy Carlson on his radio show today.
If you click on the link below, and go to the past 30 days archived broadcasts, and choose Thursday, April 12th, you'll pull it up.
Then, if you don't want to hear the whole thing, you can slide the little button to where it's just under the "i" in circle. My testimony is on just after the man who gave up drinking, and just before the man who is from Alabama.
I really didn't expect anyone to hear it, but tonight at Bible study, one of the ladies in our group came right up to me and told me she learned some things about my kids today...it was really funny!
Hope you enjoy listening to it!
www.parenttalk.org/listen/broadcast/archives/
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If you click on the link below, and go to the past 30 days archived broadcasts, and choose Thursday, April 12th, you'll pull it up.
Then, if you don't want to hear the whole thing, you can slide the little button to where it's just under the "i" in circle. My testimony is on just after the man who gave up drinking, and just before the man who is from Alabama.
I really didn't expect anyone to hear it, but tonight at Bible study, one of the ladies in our group came right up to me and told me she learned some things about my kids today...it was really funny!
Hope you enjoy listening to it!
www.parenttalk.org/listen/broadcast/archives/
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Thursday, April 12, 2007
The Next Time Someone Tells Me They Have a "WORD" for Me From God...
Recently, I had the second person in a short period of time come up and tell me that they had a "word" for me from the Lord.
I remind you that in my last post about this, I shared that in the Old Testament, God was so serious about false prophets, that He required them to be killed.
It's not acceptable in His eyes for one to say that they are speaking on His behalf, when in fact, they are just speaking out of their own feelings.
He does not tolerate that!
In fact, now that we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which people did not have during the times of the Old Testament, I believe that that God loves me enough that He'll speak right to my heart.
He doesn't need to tell someone else to come and tell me what He Himself is fully capable, and desirous of telling me.
In addition, I've been learning through the example of Josiah's life, that even when God spoke to Josiah through a prophet, what was spoken related right back to the book of the law. To be more specific, it was directly out of Deuteronomy.
And today, we have the full cannon of Scripture. It's complete. Lacking nothing.
So, even more so today...if God wants to speak, He will do it by pointing people back to His Holy Word.
I do believe that the gift of prophesy is still an active gift...but I believe that a true prophet only points people back to God's Word.
I don't believe that there is new revelation. Yes, it might be new to us, in that we might never have seen a truth in Scripture before..but it isn't "new" in that God just came up with it!
So, the next time someone tells me, "I have a word for you from the Lord", I'm going to say, "Super! I love hearing from God. Please tell me what book and verse it is, and I'll go home and get on my face before Him, and I'll read it"!
Chapter and verse, please...that's all I need.
Chapter and verse, please...no more, no less.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The Believer's Responsibility for the Body and for The Word
Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
How are you living out your life as a minister of reconciliation? Are you aware of the fact that God says in His Word that this is your job description?
Do you know that it also says that as a believer in Jesus Christ, that you are to be an ambassador for Christ?
Think about it...both of those truths tell us that our lives are not our own...wow! Scripture even says that too..we've been bought with a price ( the blood and flesh and life of Jesus Christ ), and it's NOT ABOUT US ANYMORE!
What does it mean to be a bond-servant?
It means that we are totally and completely to be at the will of God in all that we say and do.
Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, was SERIOUS about this!
He said that even if he himself, or an angel, should preach a gospel other than what they had heard originally, that they were to be accursed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He included himself in that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is SERIOUS about the holiness of God's Word...and so is GOD!
God tells us in the Old Testament that He has exalted His Name with His Word.
Why do we feel, in the church, that we can't be bold in the Lord?
Why do we buy into the thought that we don't have to PROTECT God's Holy Word with our very lives?!
Why do we seek the favor of MAN instead of the favor of Almighty God?
Why do we work harder at protecting man than at protecting God's Word and His body?!
We have to realize that God hates that junk! He hates it! He will not put up with it!
He is Holy, and we are told to be holy as He is holy.
He would not tolerate someone twisting His Word to meet their own needs and their own glorification..and He does not want His church, His body, to tolerate it either.
Yes, we are to speak the truth in love. No doubt about that...but speak the truth must...and it won't always mean that the person who it's being spoken to walks away feeling all rosy inside!
Maybe they'll be mad.
Maybe they'll be hurt.
Maybe they'll be convicted.
The end result is not our business. God doesn't say, "Speak the truth in love unless someone is going to be offended. In that case, just coddle them instead."
He never says that, for to do so would be contrary to Who He is...and contrary to the truth that He GUARDS His GLORY..and that we, as His body, are supposed to do the same...to follow in His model.
In fact, let's look at that passage a little more closely, for it is WAY too often taken totally out of context, and used to serve one's selfish need instead of serving it's intended purpose.
Ephesians 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
So, look for yourself and see..what's the PURPOSE behind "speaking the truth in love"????????????????
That the whole body may grow up in all aspects into HIM who is the head, even Christ! For the growth of the body, for the building up of itself in love!
How can a body of believers truly grow up in all aspects into Christ, if we are not willing to speak the truth, relative to v.14 regarding "the winds of doctrine, the trickery of men, and craftiness in decietful scheming"?!
We must do so! We have an obligation to protect both the body of Christ and the Word of God.
If we need an example of what happens when a body of believers doesn't do this...we need only to read the Old Testament and see what happened to Israel and Judah.
Monday, April 09, 2007
I found this picture of Brennan yesterday, on an old disc, and just had to post it. Isn't she precious? How can it be that it feels like this was last week..when it was actually years ago?!Do you remember, when you were a kid, that it felt like it would take FOREVER to be 18 years old..the age when you were just SURE you'd know everything about everything?!
And yet as an adult, time is quite different, isn't it? When we have our babies, it just seems to FLY by!
This picture brought such sweet memories back for me. Brennan was such a sweet little baby...so gentle and happy. Really, she's still that way...except for the occasional pouty fit. :)
Makes me realize once again that the Bible is really true when it tells us that our lives are but vapors...not only can they be gone in an instant..but even the stages of our childrens' lives seem to disappear before our very eyes, as they mature on to the next season that God has created for them.
Gotta go now...my baby girl is still young enough for me to squeeze a hug out of her, and my son is ALWAYS willing to hug his momma...so I gotta go get some loving! :)
Oh, did you know? The promised Messiah of Israel is risen indeed!
Without His resurrection, there would be no salvation for mankind.
Do you know that?!
Do you know that He appeared to over 500 people after He rose...a testimony to the fact that He did, in fact, rise.
Guess where He is today? Seated at the right hand of the Father.
Guess what He's doing today? Praying ( the Scripture calls is interceding) always for those who are His.
In Scripture, we are called saints. (This means holy ones.)
Do you know Him, and the power of His resurrection?
Do you know that He died to set you free from bondage..the bondage of sin?
Do you know that once you are His, you are no longer a slave to sin?
Do you kow that you are a slave to that which you obey?
If you don't know Him..but want to know more about what I've told you...please post a comment, or e-mail me at azswimmer@msn.com.
I'd love to give you the Scriptures from both the Old and New Testaments, which will show you that Yeshua is truly the Promised Messiah of Israel...but that even if you are a Gentile
(non-Jewish person), you may have a true relationship with God...the great "I AM".
Yes, Yeshua is the promised Messiah of Israel, but He's also the Messiah of the Gentiles...He's the Messiah of all mankind, and He died to give you new life in Him.
I hope that today, as we celebrate His Resurrection, you will seek Him with all of your heart and mind and soul and spirit...knowing that as you seek Him, you will find Him.
God loves you dearly, and He provided His Son as the atonement for your sins.
To lay down His life for you...that's love!
In Him,
Jesica
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Saturday, April 07, 2007
Did Jesus have an Old Man?
Here's the answer..yesterday in our kids Precept class, we were studying through Romans 6:4.
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
I borrowed from an illustration that Kay Arthur gave in one of her studies, and I drew a cross, a tomb, and a representation of raising from the dead on the board.
The children have already learned that the Word teaches us that our old man (old nature, old sin nature) was crucifed with Christ, and buried with Him.
Yesterday we explored why and how Jesus was raised from the dead..and for what purpose. ( Why don't you observe the verse above, too, and comment on what your answer is.)
Anyway..I asked the kids at one point, "Now, who was crucifed on the cross?".
And one child said, "Jesus".
And another child said, "our old man".
Both correct answers. Yeah team!
But then, one child threw me a curve ball...he said, "Jesus' old man".
WOW!
Well, my answer at the time was to tell the kids that Jesus didn't have an old man. That He was sinless.
Yes, He was sinless. I don't have any question about that.
BUT...the question came later, as I believe the LORD was tugging on my heart to dig deeper...to make sure that I hadn't just given the kids a pat answer because that's what I had been taught.
The whole premise of a Precept Bible study is to learn to "Discover Truth for Yourself" and God showed me that I was just answering out of rote teaching. That I didn't truly KNOW.
Here is the thought line...if Jesus came to earth and took on the form of man, became fully man, and became flesh for us...and then crucified the flesh (ours included) on our behalf...then would he have had an "old man" an "old sin nature" an "old nature?
I thought about the times that He was tempted by Satan.
Scripture makes it clear that He had a choice....and that He chose to walk in obedience to God.
If that is true, and I believe from Scripture that it is, then wouldn't it mean that He had an "old nature" available to Him, but that through the power of the Father and the Holy Spirit, He didn't surrender to it at any point?
That He truly lived by the Spirit and not by the flesh?
Do you see where I'm going with this?
It's one thing to say that Yeshua lived by the Spirit and not by the flesh, but wouldn't realizing that show us that He could have chosen to do otherwise, in His humanity?
Hmmm..lots of good questions for us here.
I'm off to the hospital right now to visit our Grandma Nell...but I'll be digging into this later. I'd love to hear your thoughts..but please, base them in Scripture..for all else is sinking sand.
Would you please pray for our Grandma Nell? She is a precious friend, and after "losing" my parents year before last, she and her husband have filled the painful gap in the hearts of my children, (and ours too!) by allowing us to "adopt" them as their Grandparents.
They have loved our children as though they were their own, and we love them so much!
2 days ago, Jenel fell off of a ladder and landed on the patio of her home. Her husband found her when he came home from work, and at first she was totally non-responsive. He shook her several times, and she came to. At that point, she told him that she couldn't feel her legs.
They took her by ambulance to the hospital, and BLESS GOD, there is no head trauma or back injury!
However, she had to have massive surgery on her foot. She is now fully equipped with lots of pins and plates.
Her recovery will be long. But, we just Praise the Name of the LORD that she wasn't killed or crippled for life.
Thank you, Lord!
She may, however, have to wear orthopedic shoes for the rest of her life, and that might just be the worst part for her. She is a sandal wearing, flip-flop loving lady!
We'll have to figure out how to put rhinestones on orthopedic shoes. :)
Please pray for her, won't you?
And pray for her roommate at the hospital too, please...she's in a lot of hurt, both physically and emotionally. I hope to have an opportunity to share Jesus with her today.
Bye now!
Me
Friday, April 06, 2007
Please pray for Jordin Sparks , Melinda Doolittle , and Phil Stacy
OK, so I'll admit that this isn't going to be a post focused on studying the Word.
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However, I gave a friend my word that I'd post this..so I want to keep it.
She tells me that Jordin Sparks is a Calvary Chapel girl..that she has grown up in that church. My friend asked me to please be praying for Jordin during this time in her life.
She is smack dab in the middle of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood...would you join me in praying for her..that the LORD will surround her..that He'll go before and behind her every step of the way?
Another friend told me today that Jordin's dad is the football coach for our local high school...I had no idea of that.
So..let's pray for her..and for Melinda Doolittle, and Phil Stacy...these are the ones that have been vocal about being Christians..I don't know about any of the other contestants on American Idol.
Let's just pray for all of them!
Happy Resurrection Day! Did you know that today is the actual day? I know that we celebrate it on Easter, but when you look at Scripture, Yeshua's death coincided with Passover...and Passover was earlier this week.
We went to a Seder dinner on Tuesday night..I'll have to write about that later. It was awesome!
Have a great day!
Jes
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Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Caedmon leads a Precept Discussion
This may blow your mind:
Tonight, Caedmon, who is 6, woke up from leg pains, and was laying on the couch as I was doing some computer work.
He asked me what a blog was, and I told him about mine, and he wanted me to read something that I had written to him, so I read him the post about Noah ( see links to the left to go to the original post ).
When I got to the part where I was asking the questions about Lamech, he stopped me and said, "Mom, if Noah was righteous, then his dad had to have been."
I asked him why he assumed that.
He said, "Because Noah would have heard about God from his dad. His dad would have been the one to teach him about God and His ways."
So then I asked him, "Well, then why were none of Noah's brothers and sisters called righteous in God's eyes?"
He said, "Mom..they would have had to have died already. I think they were killed by animals or in war. If Noah's dad taught him about God, he would have taught the brothers and sisters, too...so they couldn't have gone through the flood..they died before it."
WOW! Now, I know that he skipped right to interpretation, but after I re-read that post, I see that I did too. I assumed that the brothers and sisters weren't spared, but maybe Caedmon's theory is correct.
Maybe they died before the flood.
Man...talk about having a cool inductive study discussion with your 6 year old!
I love how studying through the Precept method is teaching my 6 year old inductive reasoning skills!
People ask me a lot what curriculum I use for homeschooling, and I tell them, right now...we use the Bible. Yes, we use some other things for math and science, etc. But primarily, we use the Word.
It covers so many things...but what I love the most is that they are learning to think, to investigate, to write, to memorize, to read, and all of that in the framework of learning to "Trust in the Lord" with all of their hearts, and to "lean not on their own understanding"..in all their ways they are learning to "acknowledge Him" knowing that He will direct their paths.
Wow! God is so amazing!
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Tonight, Caedmon, who is 6, woke up from leg pains, and was laying on the couch as I was doing some computer work.
He asked me what a blog was, and I told him about mine, and he wanted me to read something that I had written to him, so I read him the post about Noah ( see links to the left to go to the original post ).
When I got to the part where I was asking the questions about Lamech, he stopped me and said, "Mom, if Noah was righteous, then his dad had to have been."
I asked him why he assumed that.
He said, "Because Noah would have heard about God from his dad. His dad would have been the one to teach him about God and His ways."
So then I asked him, "Well, then why were none of Noah's brothers and sisters called righteous in God's eyes?"
He said, "Mom..they would have had to have died already. I think they were killed by animals or in war. If Noah's dad taught him about God, he would have taught the brothers and sisters, too...so they couldn't have gone through the flood..they died before it."
WOW! Now, I know that he skipped right to interpretation, but after I re-read that post, I see that I did too. I assumed that the brothers and sisters weren't spared, but maybe Caedmon's theory is correct.
Maybe they died before the flood.
Man...talk about having a cool inductive study discussion with your 6 year old!
I love how studying through the Precept method is teaching my 6 year old inductive reasoning skills!
People ask me a lot what curriculum I use for homeschooling, and I tell them, right now...we use the Bible. Yes, we use some other things for math and science, etc. But primarily, we use the Word.
It covers so many things...but what I love the most is that they are learning to think, to investigate, to write, to memorize, to read, and all of that in the framework of learning to "Trust in the Lord" with all of their hearts, and to "lean not on their own understanding"..in all their ways they are learning to "acknowledge Him" knowing that He will direct their paths.
Wow! God is so amazing!
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