12.22.2006

Exodus 20:8 ; 31:13
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.

Matthew 6:33-34
…seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 14:22,23
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.


Hello friends-

Apologies for getting in a bit late with this Weekly Thing. As I’m sure you can imagine, things have been pretty busy.
With Christmas just around the corner, it’s not a stretch to say that many of us have been running around doing various things: shopping for gifts, shopping for groceries, shopping for decorations and wrapping paper… wrapping gifts, preparing foods for Christmas, etc. Numerous things come to mind when I think of all the work and effort that typically comes around this time of year for most people. There’s a lot to be done!
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about taking time to rest; that is to say, I’ve been thinking a lot about Sabbath. The word “Sabbath” isn’t necessarily always one that you hear discussed, at least not that often – or at least not in most of my Christian experience (which, mind you, is limited to five years). Taking a Sabbath day, in the Old Testament, means taking a day of rest and giving it back to the Lord. This could probably take different forms for different people, but regardless of what you DO (or rather don’t do) on a Sabbath day, it’s meant to be a day of rest… you set aside all the things you feel like you have to do to be in communion with God.
I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time doing this. There is always something that demands my attention, or to distract me for hours on end. I constantly feel the need to be active, to be moving, to be thinking, to be trying to figure out what I’m going to do with my week, etc, etc. I have a very difficult time setting these ‘HAVE TO’S’ aside.
But you know what; we’re called to have a day in which we don’t do these things. Not to be irresponsible or to procrastinate -- hardly. That would make us poor stewards of the things given to us to take care of. However, we are meant to sit back and reflect; to take time, REAL quality time to commune with God through prayer and worship and praise. Maybe that means going on a run, or sitting and reading Scripture for a few hours. Maybe it means making art, or playing an instrument, or singing… It means submitting to God all those things we feel like we have to get done, in knowing that God’s going to take care of it.
A phrase that constantly comes up for me says that if we give time to God, He’s going to give time back to us… like a fish and the loaves kind of thing. I couldn’t tell you how that happens, but I’ve gotten a few tastes of it here and there. Time belongs to God in the first place, so it only makes sense to submit it back to Him, right? Sure, it may seem pretty radical to put your life on pause for a day out of the week, or for a chunk of hours every day… But I think it’s important for us to do that. I mean, heck, God even commanded that we do this in the Ten Commandments. If it’s up there with not murdering people, I’d imagine that God thinks it’s pretty important for us to do. So, my challenge to you (and most especially myself) is to discover what Sabbath means and to make strides to do it. I don’t know what that’s going to look like, but, here’s hoping that the Lord would teach me how to do it.

I pray that each of us would investigate the meaning of taking a Sabbath day, and really taking time to commune with God. I pray that the Spirit would give us a longing for this kind of rest, and that we would not just long for it, but do it. I ask that He works in us so that we see that time really does belong to God, and that it’s okay to let Him handle the things we feel like need our attention. I ask that we would reflect Jesus in this, knowing that He too took time alone to commune with the Father.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne

12.08.2006

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.



Hey everyone-

First off, sorry about missing last week. A lot of things went on, and all of a sudden the week was blown out of the water. I have a feeling I’m going to experience a lot of those as I get older.

Today and yesterday I went to a CCO staff seminar, and God brought up a handful of issues that He’d like to change in my life. In some ways, it’s overwhelming; in others, I’m so glad that we belong to a God who wants to see us grow and change.
A big point that was brought up by our speaker this weekend was how we look at the Bible. Now, the topic for this seminar was Biblical Application, and I went in thinking that I was going to learn some more about the Bible.
Instead, I came out having learned something more about God’s Word.

I know what you’re thinking: there isn’t a difference at all in the two things I just said. There is: one is meant to emphasize the know-how and informational aspect of learning about the Bible; the other is meant to emphasize on the fact that the Bible is more than just a compact guide to life but an open-book about God. Hopefully that makes sense. Let me elaborate a little. For those of you who have been reading the Weekly for a long time know that I have had the tendency to bring up the importance of the Bible. It’s the means by which we understand ourselves; humanity’s relationship to God; God’s relationship to humanity; and the Creator. I believe 100% that the Bible – Old Testament and New Testament – is written by people used by God to write what God wanted written out in its original format.
I think it’s important to know the Bible because it helps us to know what it is that we as Christians believe. Scripture is one of those essential things in our faith, a staple that we’ll starve without. The Spirit uses it to feed us and help us understand things.

Turns out that I have the tendency to lose sight of these reasons, and focus on the Informational Guide aspect of the Bible. There’s a lot more to it than just knowing stuff about Scripture: there is a Person behind the Scriptures who wrote a long letter to us so that we can know Him. Lately, I’ve been thirsty more for the knowledge than I have been in desiring to understand and know God more. That’s no good! “Red alert, Yvonne!” I haven’t been reading to spend time with God, but instead I’ve been reading for the sake of just reading.
So here is my encouragement and challenge for you, as my brothers and sisters: are you reading the Bible? If you are, are you steeped into it in such a way as to know God and the story of his people more? Or… are you reading it for knowledge sake alone?
I definitely encourage you to be reading the Bible, studying it in such a way that you can understand our relationship to Him. But also be seeking God’s face as you walk through the Bible.

I pray that as we read the Bible, we would not have the attitude of storing up information and factoids about the text and history. I pray that, instead, we would have the attitude of wanting to understand God and His interactions with humanity. I pray that, through Scripture, we would seek to know God more and desire a deeper relationship with Him through His word. I also ask that the Spirit would assist us in doing this, ever changing our hearts and minds to be made more in the image of Christ.
In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne