Wisdom

Also from Regina Franklin's Book "Who Calls me Beautiful".

Find Wisdom and let her teach you how to silence the voices that do not reflect the truth of who you are in Christ. Hear the voice of God as He calls you His beloved.

Find Wisdom and let her teach you to love the woman God has created you to be. Let her teach you to stand in awe and wonder at the marvelous work of God's hand when He made you.

Find Wisdom and let her teach you how to treat your body as the temple of Christ. Know that you are a sanctuary for the One who is your refuge.

Find Wisdom and let her teach you to stand in a place of proper perspective. When you seek her, she will guard your mind and transform your thoughts.

Find Wisdom and let her teach you how to allow your husband to revel in the body of the wife of his youth, not in his wife's youthful body. Let him take pleasure in the true, genuine, one-of-a-kind you -- sags, bags, rolls, and all.

Find Wisdom and let her teach you that your life will change and so will your body. Let her also remind you that you serve an unchangeable God who has loved you from the beginning of time.

God's Defintion of Beauty

I've been reading Regina Franklin's "Who Calls Me Beautiful" for religion class and I'm glad I took the opportunity to do so. This book is AMAZING and very insightful, thought provoking and personal.

I HIGHLY recommend all the ladies to read this book. And Men, this will make a great gift for the women in your life!

Let me share with you just a few bits that have made me think and reflect on my own life.

“Our inability to understand our own inherent true beauty destroys the very beauty that results from our being the temple of God. … If we do not value the temple, we cease to be the temple.”

“I see beauty.
She leans against her Savior, and she finds grace. Knowing that only God can sustain her, she stands in the face of fear and resolves not to give up. She recognizes that the things of God are the only things that matter. Seeking after the things of Christ, she lives a life of integrity. She is a fighter, a survivor, a woman of strength.
She is beauty.”

“Thus, a woman’s beauty must be found in and defined by things that are eternal, life-giving, and true. We must desire things that draw us to Christ and bring us to fullness of life in Him. He is our salvation; so too He is our beauty.”

Word of the Day: Armor of God

On the Last Chapter of Ephesians. In the later part of the Chapter, Paul tells the church to "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." (Ephesians 6:10).

He talks about the armor of God and what it means to put it on (verses 14 to 18).

Waist Girdle: Truth
Breastplate: Righteousness
Shod the Feet: Preparation for the Gospel of Peace
Shield: Faith
Helmet: Salvation
Sword: Spirit - Word of God

Final Action: PRAYING in the Spirit, leading to BOLDNESS to make known the mystery of the gospel.

What I've noticed is that while God wants us to put all those equipment on to be strong, it is to be strong in HIM, not in our own strength and our own abilities. And I've also noticed that praying here is not used as a "doing nothing" thing but in fact, it is a very active ACTION word. God does not want us to go fight the battle without any preparation. Our prep work is the armor and the PRAYING, getting ready for the day when He calls us into active battle.

So dear friends, put on the Armor of God and prepare daily for the day when our dear Lord, Savior and King calls us to go out into the battlefield and win the souls of all who need Him.

Meaningful Lessons

I've been learning some life lessons during the last few weeks through various avenues - relationships, sadness, tiredness, the Bible and more... All of which are being used by God to guide me and remind me of life's priorities.

1. A True Friend is one who is willing to spend time with you, just being there, when you're down. He/She is willing to put aside other stuff and realizes that friendship is more valuable.

I'm sad and happy to say that I have had to realize this the tough way. Sad, because the one I thought was a good friend never did this. Happy, because the most unexpected person turned out to be this good friend. God is loving and He gave me the right person at the right moment.

2. Responsibilities are overrated. I'm realizing that I don't like them at all, but they are necessary to grow, learn and use my freedom wisely.

I'm going to try and shed some of the extra activities next semester that have no meaning and lasting impact and focus more on those which do. I am learning that being busy with activities is not good. Instead, being busy with building relationships is what I should focus on.

3. I am too negative thinking and it affects the way I deal with the issue. When I start focusing on the negative parts, my entire perception changes and it leads to me become unable to do well on that issue. I have to be more positive thinking and look at the good side, not forgetting the bad, but not allowing it to take me over.

4. I've reading Ephesians now and there is one line that has jumped at me.

"Be angry, and do not sin." Ephesians 4:26

That sounds like a paradox doesn't it? How can I be angry, yet not sin? Is this righteous anger? What categorizes it? How do I know that I'm sinning or not when I'm angry? This led me to:

"Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still." Psalm 4:4

Hmm... Meditate within my heart and be still... I don't know EXACTLY what it means but I'm guessing that its to reflect on it positively in private and quieten my heart and mind and allow God to help me deal with my anger. Any other ideas?

Word of the Day

Why I am up at 6:30am willingly without an alarm clock I do not know. I have not been sleeping well the last few days, been tossing and turning and have been unable to have a peaceful sleep. So instead of trying to fight it, I just woke up and decided to do my Bible reading for the day. Actually, reading it in the morning when I'm wide awake and when the house is very quiet and peaceful is VERY VERY good. So anyway, this is my reading for the day.

Galatians Chapters 4 to 6. I'm just going to quote a section that I've found very interesting and good for me.

Galatians 5:13-22
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty: only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself."
But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another. so that you do not do the things that you wish.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Will you love me enough?

With so many scandals ongoing now in the church, it has caused me to think. So many church leaders have sinned and continued to sin while serving in the Church and NO ONE SAID ANYTHING.

That is very sad. As members of the Body of Christ, we have to hold each other accountable for our actions, no matter what our "position" in the church. In fact, the more responsibilities we take on, the more people HAVE to hold us accountable because of the influence we have on others.

Many times, out of respect, people will keep their mouths shut when they see someone sinning or even close to sinning. That is not true respect. If you truly respect and love that person, you will not want them to fall into the pit of sin. You will pull them up and awaken them to their senses, even if this might cause you to lose their friendship for a while.

I'm not saying we have a right to be judgemental. I'm saying we have a DUTY to one another to lovingly reproach and help one another stay on the long and narrow path.

"Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear." Proverbs 25:12.

As one blogger (Everyday Mommy) wrote in her blog, "How immeasurable is the value of our friends who, in the bold act of love, reprove us when we need reproving. Faithful are the wounds of a friend who knows when to say, "Have you examined yourself?""

Will you be such a friend and hold me accountable? Will you tell me and pull me back when you see me walking close to the edge? Will you pray alongside me and help me find my way back to Christ? Will you LOVE me enough to reproach me?

Alone

Have you been truly alone? Not only physically, but spiritually and emotionally? Have you felt the deep despairing feeling of total abandonment by everyone, even those who profess to love you?

Thank God I haven't... but Jesus Christ did. I'm reading "The Path of His Passion" by Bill Crowder and for the first time, the weight and true scale of what Jesus had to suffer for me has hit me. It's not just his time on the cross... its before that too.

In the Garden where He prayed, everyone was abandoning Him. This sentence in the book explains it best:

"His family had turned from Him (Mark 3.21), the crowds had walked away (John 6:66), the Twelve had become Eleven, the Eleven were reduced to Three -- and they were asleep."

Asleep? On the final hours of Christ's life on Earth, they chose to SLEEP? As much as I would like to point fingers, I can't. Because u know what, I probably would have done the exact same thing. How foolish, undependable and hurtful can we be?

When Christ died, He was alone... His disciples had fled and denied Him. His Father in Heaven had turned from Him... how painful the agony He had to go through.

This hymn is quoted in the book:

"It was alone the Savior prayed
In dark Gethsemane;
Alone He drained the bitter cup
And suffered there for me.
Alone, alone, He bore it all alone;
He gave Himself to save His own,
He suffered, bled and died alone, alone."