I just wanted to praise the Lord for a minute or two!
Our choir director asked me Wednesday night if I would sing Sunday morning in church. I said yes and immediately asked the Lord to lay a song on my heart. The song He led me to was "If You Want Me To." For those of you who have never heard it, here is a snippet:
The pathway is broken
and the signs are unclear
And I don't know the reason
Why You've brought me here
But just because You love me
The way that you do
I'm gonna walk through the valley
If You want me to
This song has been a challenge for me because sometimes I don't think I have this attitude. Do you? He led me to this song for me if for no other reason. I give Him the praise for being faithful and answering prayer in His way!
Love to all in Christ,
Stephanie
Psalms 28:7
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
New Year, New You in Christ
Hello fellow sojourners!
Thats my big word for the day, "sojourners." Anyone know what it means? It means visitors going on a journey together. Thats what we are, after all; visitors on Earth who are walking this physical life together for Christ.
As I ponder what 2010 might hold for me and my walk with Christ, I can't help but speak about the devastating earthquakes in Haiti. Through this tragedy God has taken me repeatedly to the portion of scripture where the diciples are asking for signs of His coming again and He tells them that there will be "wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in divers places, etc.."
Well, they didn't get to see those signs but we see them everyday and the tragedy in Haiti is a perfect fulfillment of this scripture. The end is nearing and His coming is right around the corner. Y'all, that means that our window of opportunity to share the gospel with those around us and around the world is quickly closing. We need to be bold witnesses for Christ! His Word states that if we do not confess Him before men, He will not confess us before the Father! I want Him to confess me before the Father, don't you?!!!
I'm challenging each of you, along with myself, to tell someone about Jesus and what He's done for you! Your personal testimony is the strongest witness you have. Not everyone will be receptive but you will have at least been obedient and told them! Planting seed is important but the Master gardner will handle the rest!
I pray that each of you have a wonderful 2010!
May the Lord bless you and may His countenance shine upon you.
In Christ,
Stephanie
Thats my big word for the day, "sojourners." Anyone know what it means? It means visitors going on a journey together. Thats what we are, after all; visitors on Earth who are walking this physical life together for Christ.
As I ponder what 2010 might hold for me and my walk with Christ, I can't help but speak about the devastating earthquakes in Haiti. Through this tragedy God has taken me repeatedly to the portion of scripture where the diciples are asking for signs of His coming again and He tells them that there will be "wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in divers places, etc.."
Well, they didn't get to see those signs but we see them everyday and the tragedy in Haiti is a perfect fulfillment of this scripture. The end is nearing and His coming is right around the corner. Y'all, that means that our window of opportunity to share the gospel with those around us and around the world is quickly closing. We need to be bold witnesses for Christ! His Word states that if we do not confess Him before men, He will not confess us before the Father! I want Him to confess me before the Father, don't you?!!!
I'm challenging each of you, along with myself, to tell someone about Jesus and what He's done for you! Your personal testimony is the strongest witness you have. Not everyone will be receptive but you will have at least been obedient and told them! Planting seed is important but the Master gardner will handle the rest!
I pray that each of you have a wonderful 2010!
May the Lord bless you and may His countenance shine upon you.
In Christ,
Stephanie
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
New Adventures
So, I started Bible college last night. My first class was Controversial Issues of the Bible. Its actually being taught the father of a very good friend of mine. I was a little nervous going in but knowing who the teacher was and then having another friend in the class was so helpful. We got a lot of good introductory information last night regarding how to approach controversial issues of the Bible. I can't wait to see whats coming up.
We also got our first homework assignment last night. We have to take the portion of scripture in 2 Timothy 2:15 "rightly dividing the Word of truth" and put into words our interpretation of that phrase. Here's what I came up with:
Taking tried and proven methods of Bible study and applying them when studying scripture in order to gain a deeper understanding of the scripture so that the good news of the gosepl can be spread through teaching and preaching in an understandable fashion. We don't want to confuse anyone, especially someone we're witnessing to or a new Christian. The key here, or course, is to study!
I'm not sure if this is exactly what the professor is looking for since he wasn't there and delivered the assignment through someone else but we'll see.
I know I've been quiet for a while and the simple answer to the "why?" is that life is just nuts. I know its not a great excuse, but it's all I've got so go easy on me. I'll try to do better, especially now that I'm in school and going to be on information overload and will need an outlet to deposit in.
Love to all in Christ,
Stephanie
PS. Love the Lord with everything you have and let Him work it out! He ROCKS at dealing with the details that drive us insane!
We also got our first homework assignment last night. We have to take the portion of scripture in 2 Timothy 2:15 "rightly dividing the Word of truth" and put into words our interpretation of that phrase. Here's what I came up with:
Taking tried and proven methods of Bible study and applying them when studying scripture in order to gain a deeper understanding of the scripture so that the good news of the gosepl can be spread through teaching and preaching in an understandable fashion. We don't want to confuse anyone, especially someone we're witnessing to or a new Christian. The key here, or course, is to study!
I'm not sure if this is exactly what the professor is looking for since he wasn't there and delivered the assignment through someone else but we'll see.
I know I've been quiet for a while and the simple answer to the "why?" is that life is just nuts. I know its not a great excuse, but it's all I've got so go easy on me. I'll try to do better, especially now that I'm in school and going to be on information overload and will need an outlet to deposit in.
Love to all in Christ,
Stephanie
PS. Love the Lord with everything you have and let Him work it out! He ROCKS at dealing with the details that drive us insane!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Satan is on the attack!!!
Y'all, I'm just going to go ahead and jump right in.... Satan is on the attack! He has been getting under my skin and under the skin of those around me for about a month now. But, this means something good to me! It means that God is getting ready to do something HUGE! I'm so glad that the war is won! I know that we still have to fight the individual battles but God is with us always!
I just wanted to get that out there so that y'all could pray! We will win every battle on our knees!
Love to all,
Stephanie
I just wanted to get that out there so that y'all could pray! We will win every battle on our knees!
Love to all,
Stephanie
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Do I glow for Jesus?
I know y'all are looking at the title to this post thinking "has she finally jumped over that edge she teeters on everyday?" The answer is no, I haven't!
I've been in the book of Acts in my quiet time lately and I've been studying the death of Stephen. The Bible says that when the Sanhedrin looked at Stephen he "had the face of an angel." He was glowing! My thought when I read those verses was "do I glow for Jesus? Can folks look at me and know theres something different about me?" The answer wasn't something I was very proud of. I try my best to exude Christ every day but my best isn't good enough.
I had an epiphany right about the time I was beating myself up and that was that, just as we must take care of our bodies to help them "glow" every day, so must we take care of our spirit so that it glows every day. We all have certain things that we do each day, whether it be working out, washing our face with a certain product, using a certain type of hair care on our hair, that give us our physical "glow" and so must we bathe in scripture every day in order to maintain our "Jesus glow."
I know this is a simple thought and one that we've heard before (maybe in other terms) but I'd never had the thoughts on glowing before so I thought I'd share.
I pray each of you have a wonderful day! May the Lord bless you and may His countenance shine upon you.
Love in Christ,
Stephanie
I've been in the book of Acts in my quiet time lately and I've been studying the death of Stephen. The Bible says that when the Sanhedrin looked at Stephen he "had the face of an angel." He was glowing! My thought when I read those verses was "do I glow for Jesus? Can folks look at me and know theres something different about me?" The answer wasn't something I was very proud of. I try my best to exude Christ every day but my best isn't good enough.
I had an epiphany right about the time I was beating myself up and that was that, just as we must take care of our bodies to help them "glow" every day, so must we take care of our spirit so that it glows every day. We all have certain things that we do each day, whether it be working out, washing our face with a certain product, using a certain type of hair care on our hair, that give us our physical "glow" and so must we bathe in scripture every day in order to maintain our "Jesus glow."
I know this is a simple thought and one that we've heard before (maybe in other terms) but I'd never had the thoughts on glowing before so I thought I'd share.
I pray each of you have a wonderful day! May the Lord bless you and may His countenance shine upon you.
Love in Christ,
Stephanie
Monday, July 27, 2009
How are we to love?
Hey y'all!
I'm reading this FABULOUS book titled "Called to Love" by Kaye Miller. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the book and have highlighted all over it like crazy with little tid bits to blog about so be ready!
In the "Introduction" section was a statement so profund, I've been pondering on it for over a week and wanted to share it with y'all. Here 'tis:
"the love of Jesus calls us to much more than a smile. He calls us to take the love that puts a smile on our own faces and real joy in our hearts and to share that love with the world. Relentlessly, redemptively, faithfully, and patiently, we are to freely give waht we have freely received."
It takes me to a scripture reference that has always been profound to me but never more profound than at this juncture in my life. It is:
Luke 12:47-49 (New King James Version)
47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
The part that speaks to me is v. 48b: "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."
Folks, we've been given much and had much committed to us through the death of Christ! He has given us His love, His grace and His mercy AND committed the spread of the gospel to us. As such, it seems pretty evident to me that He requires much from us and asks more from us than we are giving now! Why in the world would we horde all that He has given to us and not share it with the world?!!!!
So, here's a challenge for all of us: be deliberate about the call that Jesus' love places on our lives! Get out there and share Him with everyone you (and I mean we!) meet. Your doctor, dental hygienist, grocery cashier, restaurant host/waiter, neighbor, friend, family member and anyone and everyone else you come in contact with. Let's live out the call of Jesus' love together!
May the Lord bless you all and may His countenance shine upon you all!
Love in Christ,
Stephanie
I'm reading this FABULOUS book titled "Called to Love" by Kaye Miller. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the book and have highlighted all over it like crazy with little tid bits to blog about so be ready!
In the "Introduction" section was a statement so profund, I've been pondering on it for over a week and wanted to share it with y'all. Here 'tis:
"the love of Jesus calls us to much more than a smile. He calls us to take the love that puts a smile on our own faces and real joy in our hearts and to share that love with the world. Relentlessly, redemptively, faithfully, and patiently, we are to freely give waht we have freely received."
It takes me to a scripture reference that has always been profound to me but never more profound than at this juncture in my life. It is:
Luke 12:47-49 (New King James Version)
47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
The part that speaks to me is v. 48b: "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."
Folks, we've been given much and had much committed to us through the death of Christ! He has given us His love, His grace and His mercy AND committed the spread of the gospel to us. As such, it seems pretty evident to me that He requires much from us and asks more from us than we are giving now! Why in the world would we horde all that He has given to us and not share it with the world?!!!!
So, here's a challenge for all of us: be deliberate about the call that Jesus' love places on our lives! Get out there and share Him with everyone you (and I mean we!) meet. Your doctor, dental hygienist, grocery cashier, restaurant host/waiter, neighbor, friend, family member and anyone and everyone else you come in contact with. Let's live out the call of Jesus' love together!
May the Lord bless you all and may His countenance shine upon you all!
Love in Christ,
Stephanie
Friday, July 24, 2009
What will our answer be?
I know that I've read Matthew 16:15-16 a hundred times before, if not more, but it really, really spoke to me this week so I thought I'd share my thoughts with you. Here are the verses from the NKJV translation of the Bible:
Matthew 16:15-16
"He said to them, "But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
As I was reading these words and pondering this portion of scripture the Holy Spirit whispered to me, "Who do YOU say that I am? Do you confess Me before the people you encounter every day?"
Whoa!!!!! I was stopped dead in my tracks! On the first part of the question, my answer was emphatically "You are the great I AM; my Savior; the Son of God; the One that I love above all others." The second part of the question gave me pause because I had to be brutally honest and confess that I don't do a great job of confessing Him in front of all the folks I come in contact with on a daily basis. Now, I don't mean that I try and hide the fact that I'm a christian because nothing could be further from the truth. However, oftentimes, I don't go out of my way to share Christ with the cashier at the gas station or grocery store, the lady that owns and runs the used book store that I go in all the time, the lady at the little taco stand where I go and get fish tacos when the craving hits me. These are the folks that He was asking about and I had to confess that I hadn't shared Christ with them and was failing at my job as a christian. Since then, I've been under deep conviction and trying to make a more concerted effort to share Christ with the "everyday" folks I come in contact with.
I've also been wondering what your response would be if the Holy Spirit asked you these questions? Would you answer the first one as emphatically as I did or would there be hesitation? Would you find yourself in a place, as I did on the second question, to confess that you don't share Christ with the "everyday" folks you come in contact with?
I love people that love Jesus BUT Jesus calls me to love those that don't love Him and would answer the first question in such a way that told me they had no idea who He is. They can only hear and have the opportunity to answer the first question positively if I confess Him before them every hour or every day for the rest of my life.
So, my challenge to us all is to make an intentional contact and share Christ this coming up week. That may sound simple but, I assure you, it is not. I'd like anyone who does this to share their experience by commenting on this post. I'll be doing this same thing and we'll just see what happens!
I love you all and and praying for you all!
Have a safe and wonderful weekend!
Love to all in Christ,
Stephanie
Matthew 16:15-16
"He said to them, "But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
As I was reading these words and pondering this portion of scripture the Holy Spirit whispered to me, "Who do YOU say that I am? Do you confess Me before the people you encounter every day?"
Whoa!!!!! I was stopped dead in my tracks! On the first part of the question, my answer was emphatically "You are the great I AM; my Savior; the Son of God; the One that I love above all others." The second part of the question gave me pause because I had to be brutally honest and confess that I don't do a great job of confessing Him in front of all the folks I come in contact with on a daily basis. Now, I don't mean that I try and hide the fact that I'm a christian because nothing could be further from the truth. However, oftentimes, I don't go out of my way to share Christ with the cashier at the gas station or grocery store, the lady that owns and runs the used book store that I go in all the time, the lady at the little taco stand where I go and get fish tacos when the craving hits me. These are the folks that He was asking about and I had to confess that I hadn't shared Christ with them and was failing at my job as a christian. Since then, I've been under deep conviction and trying to make a more concerted effort to share Christ with the "everyday" folks I come in contact with.
I've also been wondering what your response would be if the Holy Spirit asked you these questions? Would you answer the first one as emphatically as I did or would there be hesitation? Would you find yourself in a place, as I did on the second question, to confess that you don't share Christ with the "everyday" folks you come in contact with?
I love people that love Jesus BUT Jesus calls me to love those that don't love Him and would answer the first question in such a way that told me they had no idea who He is. They can only hear and have the opportunity to answer the first question positively if I confess Him before them every hour or every day for the rest of my life.
So, my challenge to us all is to make an intentional contact and share Christ this coming up week. That may sound simple but, I assure you, it is not. I'd like anyone who does this to share their experience by commenting on this post. I'll be doing this same thing and we'll just see what happens!
I love you all and and praying for you all!
Have a safe and wonderful weekend!
Love to all in Christ,
Stephanie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
