Feel The Love

Ladies I have been having a GREAT WEEK! I've felt a renewed closeness to the Lord and just finally got it into my heart that Jesus loves ME! (He loves you too, but for the purpose of this post we're just going to be focusing on me lol)


I've known that God loves me ever since I got saved. But sometimes I struggled because it was a head knowledge. I know this, scripture says this, and my pastor preached it. But God has done something in my life. He's done the same thing for you too, and if you don't know about it you need to go and have a chat with Him. 


You want to know what He did? 


He died for me (and for you)! Thinking about this reminds me of the hymn that goes: For ME, He came and to death pursued, AMAZING LOVE! How can this be? That thou my HOLY GOD shouldst die for ME???? 


John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.


Whoseoever is ME!! (and YOU!!!!) It's a totally open invitation! God loves with a HOLY love. He became a man and took on all of my sins. ALL past, present, and future. 


Do you know why He did that?


Because He is SO Holy that in my own strength I could not come into His presence. But He wanted to fellowship with ME! With ME (and YOU) He wanted to have a relationship and I was so filthy and sinful that He couldn't. It was impossible, SO HE MADE IT POSSIBLE! Do you understand that? He wanted me, so He came and got me! He came here to earth for ME! 


I've struggled with this and questioned it from time to time. If that's you I encourage you to keep asking questions. But ask the ONE who truly has the answers. 


...be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive -Ephesians 4:14


Don't be turned to and fro by the philosophies of this world or of other religions. Don't worry about "religion"!* Put your focus on the One above and HE WILL DIRECT YOUR STEPS. 

I don't want to make this sound over simplified, because it takes time and we must wait on the Lord for His guidance. But man oh man having a heart knowledge of the love of God is an unbeatable feeling! Nothing compares to it. Having God's unconditional love means I don't have to look anywhere else for love. He provides it all. Having my husband love me, and my children love me is just bonus! I don't have to worry if people like me, because guess what? GOD LOVES ME! He cares about me and my life and my day to day. 


The best part about all of this (for you) is that He loves you too. If you don't know that you need get alone with God and grab hold of Him! Ask Him to show you the truth of His PERFECT LOVE so that you can know, that you know, that YOU KNOW, God loves you! 


Do you feel as on fire for the Lord as when you first got saved? If not you need to re-examine your heart. Do you really believe that God loves you? If you really believe that, and feel that, then you should be FIRED UP! Not lukewarm, but on fire! You shouldn't be able to contain what God has done for you. If you REALLY comprehend how much God loves you then you should be on a roof top somewhere! Because it is an AMAZING, PERFECT, UNTOUCHABLE LOVE, that no one can take away! This is my ONLY praise this week because truthfully.... It is more than enough!!!!! 



For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:38-39




 *Just so you don't get the wrong message, it's not that you don't need to go to church. Just that you don't need to worry so much about religious titles, and the doctrine's of men. Any church you attend should preach THE WHOLE Word of God and should be governed by the scriptures not doctrines made up by men. You shouldn't need any extra Biblical books to tell you the will of God. I just wanted to clear that up lest anyone think I'm encouraging them to leave church and just stay home alone and read their Bible alone. :o)

Thanks and Praise

We've been talking about thanking God, and I think thanks and praise go hand in hand. The things that we thank God for we should also be praising Him for, right? I know that seems like an impossible task. But I think the key is in knowing the character of God. 


If we use our example from Monday about the Ten Boom sisters and the fleas, then God could be praised for being all knowing, a protector, merciful, loving, a great planner, and those are just a few! 


So while for most it would be hard to say "Lord, I am praising you for these flees" it's probably easier (and more honest) to say "Lord, I'm praising you because you know best, because you are in control, because you have a purpose for this!" 


Praising God is such an important part of following Him and loving Him. We can see this in Romans 1:21 which says:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

So how do we glorify God? One way is to praise Him, and make His name known. If not we can end up in a place where we know God, but our hearts are darkened and we're living a life no different than the unsaved. I don't want that to be me! I want to be sure that since I know God, that I glorify Him as God. I want to have a pure heart before my Father and one of the ways that we can aim to keep our hearts pure, and full of light is to keep His praises on our tongues. 


So what are you praising HIM for this week?




My Praises:

• God's mercy, grace, righteousness, and forgiveness
• Seeing my girls play together nicely 
• Getting some of our laundry mountain tackled
• Watching Facing The Giants (that movie encourages me so much)
• Working with the teens at church
• God's provisions
• Listening to some great teachings on tough issues
• Having my parents watch the girls so we could help out at church
• Seeing my husband grow in different areas
• Belonging to a Bible believing church
• Having a great pastor and assistant pastor
• Our 17 month old still sleeping through the night

Praise Him Always

I hope that you all have been having a great week, and have some great praises to share! 


In my reading this week (not the 90 day plan) I came across a verse I wanted to share with you all: 

"I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only." -Psalm 71:16

This verse stood out to me for two different reasons. The first was the part that says that "I will make mention of thy righteousness". When I read that, my mind immediately went to praising God. He doesn't do things in our lives just because, He does them to show forth HIS righteousness so that we can tell others! We are supposed to be constantly bragging on the Lord. 


Doing that not only helps us to keep our eyes on the great things He is doing for us, but it also gives us a tool to draw in others. When we share our praises it makes others interested in learning more about our God who is so amazing and faithful to give us good things. But even more than that, when we brag on Him when things seem to be going bad that's an even bigger testament to His greatness. Doesn't He deserve at least that from us? 


The other thing that stood out to me was "I will go in the strength of the Lord God". -I know I'm backwards but hey sometimes God has to show us one thing so we'll be ready for the next regardless of the order we read it in- Anyway, that first part of this verse just really got me thinking on what it is the Lord calling me to do. We are all called to do something at different times. It doesn't have to be something extreme like to go to a different country and serve the people there. It can be something very small. 


For example this Sunday I was trying to take a nap, and the Lord placed a woman from our church on my heart. I don't talk to this woman often and to be honest I'm not 100% sure I even know her name. But He put it on my heart to pray for her. So I did. I prayed for everything I could think of: protection, encouragement, financial, physical, mental, spiritual, etc. Then when I was done I got a verse to share with her. So I wrote out a little note and told her what happened and that God gave me this verse to give her. I told her I don't know why or what it means but that I hope it helps. Well you know what? She needed that verse. She needed to be encouraged to continue on in her walk with the Lord. She told me she couldn't figure out why she was feeling a certain way but with the message our preacher gave and then my note she got it! Praise God! 


I was nervous to do it because, I don't know her that well and I didn't want to seem crazy. But I listened and was able to play a part in being a blessing to someone else. What is the Lord calling you to do? And are you willing to "go in the strength of the Lord God"?


Now for my praises from this week :o)

• Getting to go strawberry picking
• Our 17 month old sleeping through the night for a few days in a row!
• My husband's vision of providing for his family
• Great preaching
• Meeting a few missionaries
• My health
• Being able to trust God with my fertility
• Hearing my 3 year old sing about Jesus
• Mommy group
• Having a friend help me be able to go to mommy group
• Getting a magazine in the mail from a friend looking to encourage me (thank you!)
• Seeing God's provision
• Family soul winning 
• Having "Titus 2" women in my life

Please don't forget share a few of your praises in the comments section below. 

I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. -Psalm 9:1

Days of Praise!

As you can now tell Wednesday will be our praise day! Before we get into what our praises have been so far let's look at what scripture has to say about praise. Here are just a few verse that I've come across in my recent readings as I've been preparing for this revival:

 Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. - 1 Chronicles 16:8

This verse here is a direction. It's not saying that it would be nice if you did this but rather it is saying DO this. Give thanks, call upon His name, make known His deeds! So we see we are told to praise God. 

Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. - 1 Chronicles 16:24-25

Again with this verse we are told to do something but there is something else very important here. God deserves our praise! Now I'm sure we all know that, but how much more should we realize it as truth when we see it laid out for us in scripture?!

Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. -Psalm 33:1

Here we see God wants the righteous to rejoice in Him, and that's exactly what sharing praises about His goodness does. 

Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me -Psalm 50:23a

Who doesn't want to bring glory to God? I'm sure we all do! So that's exactly why we are doing this! We are taking time out every Wednesday to share about the goodness of the Lord. 

The point in doing five praises a day is so that we can seek to find things to praise Him for regardless of the situation. There have been days that I struggled to even write down one praise let alone five! But I pushed through and I did it! I hope that you were blessed in doing this exercise and that you would see the benefit in continuing with it :o)

Ok now for some of my praises:

• Getting to have quiet time with the Lord
• Bible time with my family
• Opportunities to train my children
• Wisdom to know to turn to God for the answers in training my children
• A Great dinner
• God's Provisions for my family
• Finding a mentor
• My husband's business picking up a little
• Family soul-winning
• Pizza for dinner (not having to cook!)
• Getting a scripture from the Lord
• Getting to talk with a mom who used the curriculum I want to use

Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. -Psalm 150

What are some of the things that you are praising the Lord for? It doesn't matter if they are big or small, let's bring Glory to God together!