01.30.2007

Genesis 3:8,9
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

Deuteronomy 4:29
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

1 Chronicles 16:9-11
Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

Hello everyone,

I hope that you all have had a good week, and that you have been able to learn many things from God through situations and world around you.
As I continued to read my book about Sabbath this morning, and as I’ve been reading through Psalms, I realized that there is much for me to learn in the way of growing in relationship with God. What’s funny about it is that I’ve brought up many of the same points that I’m about to bring up in past Weekly’s.
As human beings, we are inherently called to be near the heart of God. We are designed and created to be in relationship with our heavenly Father, and with that in mind we have also been made in His image. He lovingly put formed us in the ‘unseen place’ spoken about in Psalm 139 and put His own breath into our bodies. Even in our rebellious sinful state, He saw it good to beckon us back to Him, call us out of the Garden, and make amends (oh sweet propitiation) with us through Jesus Christ’s blood. If God did not want a relationship with us, I really don’t think He would have done and continue to do so many things to invite us into His arms. Certainly we don’t deserve it. But then again, what is grace, if not that which is good and we do not deserve?
There is so much clutter in my life that often times God’s voice is crowded out. I know He’s there and I continue to talk with Him. I know that He’s speaking to me, but I can’t quite make out what He’s saying… It makes it difficult to continue to grow a relationship with Him, because my primary focus isn’t on Him. He’s kind of on the side-lines, in peripheral vision. But that isn’t where the Lord belongs.
If I determine to keep Jesus as the Lord of my life, having him out there on the side-lines is definitely not the place where He belongs. That would be like having the guest of honor sit along the side rather than at the head of the table. If you do a little word study of the general form of ‘lord,’ you find out a lot about Jesus Christ’s position as Lord: “a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, ruler, or king.” That sounds like someone I should be putting all of my focus and energy on… and we’re all called to see Jesus in this way, and submit to God the Father in the same way. By all means, as the Creator of everything I’d think He’s worthy of it.
What would help to put God in this position in our lives is prayer and frequent Bible study, and submitting to His way over our own way. It’s so good and so wonderful to cherish prayer and Bible study… sometimes we forget how good it really is and can be, and the Holy Spirit will stir us out of that slump.
Bringing it back the book I’m reading, spending time with God means being still before God and just simply acknowledging His presence and authority, His goodness and justice. As it would turn out, scheduling time with God is a form of acknowledging that all those things we feel like we have to take care of are going to be taken care of by God. He’s got it under control and we can set it before Him just like anything else in our lives. It’s not going to fall apart or explode without you.

I pray that we can each learn to be still before the Lord, acknowledging how great He is and how little we are. I also pray that the Holy Spirit would help us to be focused on developing our relationship with Him, and that He would also give us a hunger for that… a hunger that in some way would cause an inward ache and longing that we would be drawn closer. I also pray that we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, may encourage one another in prayer and in Scripture.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne

P.S. The book that I am currently reading is more of a devotional, called 'Sabbath Presence' by Kathleen Casey.

1.19.2007

Philippians 1:6
… He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1,2
… Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Romans 5:8
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Hello everyone-

I hope that you are well and that over the past two weeks the Lord has been teaching and growing each of you through whatever sorrows or joys you’ve experienced. My apologies for taking a while to get back on track with this, but I’m now moved into the city and adjusting well to my new surroundings.
There’s plenty that I would like to write about, and eventually I’ll get it all out to you over the weeks. But I want to go back to something I was pondering a few weeks ago: the compassion of the Lord. As I was reading through Isaiah, there are several times when the Lord speaks about His wrath on His people the Israelites because they have strayed from His ways. They’ve done wicked things in His sight and they are to receive their due discipline. However, although the Lord expresses His wrath, after a time He also expresses compassion. Isaiah 30:18 caught me somewhat off guard, stating, “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”

The Creator of all the earth longed to be compassionate on Israel, the very same people who may as well have spit in His face. God is completely and totally just and righteous in His anger, but He’s also God of love and compassion. How they all work together in perfection I’ll never understand or know how to express. This is an encouraging thing to take note of, though, and to praise the Lord for. My boyfriend and I had a conversation just the other day about how awesome God is for having grace on wicked people – for if He didn’t, none of us would be saved. We’ve all done something wicked in the Lord’s sight, as Christian people or before our hearts were turned to Christ, and yet we’re still here alive and breathing. How amazing grace is indeed! Shouldn’t our response be to strive to get out of the entanglements of sin and follow the Lord’s ways? Shouldn’t our hearts be for the Lord, rather than ourselves, and long to follow the God of such great compassion? And even more, God is so worthy of our praise for this grace and compassion that we are so unworthy of. I urge you as brothers and sisters in Christ to take these truths to heart, and look to follow God’s ways through studying the Bible and through prayer; all I ask is that you would encourage me to do the same. It would not be fitting for me to say it to you and not acknowledge that I have a share of faults and failures that God knows I struggle with. We can all be encouraged by David who, although he had entanglements in adultery and murder and had to repent, is recorded as a man after God’s own heart.

Our hearts ought to long and hunger to follow the Lord, and I pray that the Holy Spirit would make it so in each of us. I also pray that we would praise the Lord for His unending compassion, and also for His perfect discipline. I ask that as children of God we would be compassionate and loving towards one another, while also speaking truth in love when we see each other sin. May the Lord continually change and grow us into the likeness of Christ.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne

01.01.2007

Matthew 6:25-34
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But 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.

Hello everyone!

How are you? I hope that things are well, or as well as can be, and that you’re able to stay focused on the Lord during the crazy holidays. And speaking of which, it’s 2007 now… Happy New Year! It’s kind of crazy to think of all the things that happened in 2006, both in my life personally and in the world at large, both good and bad. Now we get to look forward to see what 2007 will bring, but you know, in a lot of ways it’s not any different than looking forward to see what’s going to happen at the end of this week, or the end of the day.

Earlier this week when I was thinking about what I could write about in the Weekly, I was thinking I could go on about the Lord’s compassion. I’ve been reading through Isaiah, and it amazes me how much God desires to have compassion on a people who practically spit in His face through their sins. I’ve been thinking a lot about Sabbath, as you read last week. But, instead of those things, my attention is turned to something else. In two weeks, I’m moving to Philadelphia. In one week I will be 23. In a month I will prayerfully ministering and interacting with art students in the city. I’ve got things planned one to three months in advance. There are things to look forward to, and there are things that are going to cause me to stress out. I’m on the brink of being a missionary set in the city to come alongside young artists – still in their schooling – to either show them Christ or help them walk with Christ. I’ve never lived in a city, either, so there’s a lot to think about as I amalgamate and become accustomed to where things are and how to get there. There is plenty to be thinking about as I make the transition into this new stage of my life.

There is also quite the temptation of worry prowling at my door. Perhaps you know of the feeling, or that you are already in the throws of worry.

However, I don’t have to worry. You don’t have to worry. When it comes right down to it, worrying is a chosen reaction to the circumstances around us that make us uncomfortable. That’s right: to be worried is to choose to be worried. The reason why we don’t have to worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow or two weeks from now, or at any point throughout 2007, is because we have a God who is in control of all things. We have a God that we can trust through the uncomfortable situations that we go through in life whether it’s something like moving or something like financial hardship or health. If God is our Father, honestly and truthfully, then He is also the solid rock on which we can stand and not be blown over by waves of circumstance. Something I’ve been trying to digest for a long time is the idea of taking one day at a time. That is to say, being focused on what will happen today and not worrying about what is going to happen tomorrow or the next day. Not that we can’t make plans, but we also have to realize that some of our plans may change because God has something else in mind (and not being freaked out by that).
God has allotted for us a certain amount of time every day and it’s that time that we’re meant to focus on. Thinking about all the time ahead of us in the days to come can be very overwhelming; somehow I don’t think God would have us be overwhelmed by something that hasn’t happened yet. Actually I don’t think He would have us be overwhelmed at all, but to find our stance in God’s protection and providence.

So in 2007 or any year, don’t worry about what’s going to happen… no matter how big or small that worry may be. God has given us each day that comes, and through each day we ought to focus our trust in Him.

I pray that the Lord would help each of us to find our confidence in Him, teaching us and growing us more and more into the likeness of Christ. I also pray that the Spirit gives us the strength we need to choose to trust in the Lord rather than to worry about the circumstances in our life… that we would submit those circumstances to God and allow Him to handle it, knowing fully that He will take care of what’s going on. I also ask that He would teach us to have grace with one another when we do worry, and help us to encourage and lift one another up as brothers and sisters in Christ.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne