Monday, October 22, 2012

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Sweet to The Soul




Proverbs 16:24
"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb,
sweet to the soul,
and health to the bones."

I want my words to be sweet and healthy to my husband and everyone I speak to. They need to be that way to everyone, but especially those closest to us. In order to do that I must speak pleasant words.

Pleasant means- agreeable, delight, something of grace or beauty.

Wow! My mouth can keep me from being a woman of grace a beauty.

There are seven Scriptural references to the word no-am(Hebrew for pleasant)
Ps. 27:4 - used to describe the Lord’s beauty
Ps. 90:17 - also used to describe the Lord but we are to put it on and be showing it.
Prov. 3:17 - the way of wisdom is pleasantness
Prov. 15:26 - pleasant words come from one who is pure or striving to be pure. It’s a choice to                                      speak pleasant words and live pure.
Prov. 16:24 - our text
Zech. 11:7, 10 - a rod called beauty used to correct the sheep/ the poor of the flock.
I must speak pleasant words, that wouldn’t be words:
That degrade
Complain
Are critical
That argue
Are sarcastic
Are dirty/hurtful

Pleasant words are something sweet that can be relished. Speak words that would warm the heart when remembered.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

This Day

“This is the day which the LORD hath made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Psalm 118:24



Today - “this is the day”

The Lord Planned It - “the LORD hath made;”

A Purposed Attempt - “we will”

Rejoice - To spin around ( under the influence of any violent emotion) Think spinning around with joy in a big meadow, like Maria on Sound of Music.

Be Glad - cheer up, joy, be merry



I think we look right past another meaning of this verse. We automatically think, “ Be thankful and happy God gave you another day!” But what is we looked differently:

This day was created and planned by the Lord - that means today is in the Divine planner - everything in it He planned. Our job is to make a purposed attempt to be joyful and giddy (if you would) of the day and the plans thereof. But I don’t think it’s a once a day, do-this-every-morning thing. It’s ongoing though out the day. What if we replaced the word “in” with “throughout” and “it” with “the day”. Boy, would that change everything!



“This is the day which the LORD hath made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it (throughout the day).”



We are continually rejoicing and being giddy because the plans that unfold for the day are God’s plans! Yes, even that flopped supper. Just laugh about it and do your best to fix it.

So, throughout this day, rejoice in His planning.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

A Titus 2 Woman



 
As I was studying Titus chapter two the other day I decided to search out some of the words. What interesting things I found.

 
There is an example for the aged (older) women to set:

 
  • Holiness - reverent, to be proper, suitable, or sacred
  • Not False Accusers (Greek: Diabalos) - Devil, Traduce (to be very critical)
  • Not given to much wine- Not enslaved or given to alcohol
  • Teachers of good things - a teach of right, virtue


Then Paul goes on to tell what these women are to impart to the younger generation:
  • Soberness - a disciplines, self-controlled sound mind
  • Love their Husbands - this love is a fondness, affectionate love, to be a friend of her man. 
  • Love their Children - the same kind of love: fondness, maternal, and to be a friend
  • Discreetness - Sound in mind, self-controlled feelings
  • Chaste - Properly, clean, innocent, modest
  • Keepers at Home - a guard, stayer at home
  • Good - well, properly beautiful, valuable and virtuous 
  • Obedient to husband - submit yourself to, put under, from the Greek word tasso meaning to arrange into an orderly manner
  • Not Blasphemous - so their life doesn’t defame, rail on or speak evil of the Lord.

 
Some of these things I knew and others I forgot, but some others I hadn’t realized. I may not be one of the aged women, but I do have girls younger than me that I spend time with and what I do (my actions) will teach them more than my words.

 
Do we live our lives in a sacred suitable manner that is pleasing to Christ? How is my level of criticalness? Am I teaching right things, that which is virtuous?

 
I found it interesting that the love mentioned is: to be fond of, like preferring to be with those people above anyone else, and to be a friend of them. Then comes the discreetness, boy oh boy self-controlled feelings! That doesn’t always doesn’t happen easily for a girl.

 
Teaching the younger to be good, properly beautiful stuck out to me. Properly beautiful, to me I think the Lord was meaning beauty radiating on the outside from what is within the heart. Not ornamental beauty and what we can do to make ourselves look pretty. If we are beautiful inside, we’ll be beautiful outside.

 
Then the last thing that stuck out to me was the part about obedient to husband. I knew it meant submissive and I knew that meant giving up your own will. You must deny yourself and be put under another. The blessings of such are great. But it was the root word in Greek that got me. This word means To arrange in an orderly manner, this submission is all part of God’s divine order for the home. He knows that brings the greatest peace. And it’s a blessing to see it mentioned here.

 
I hope this was as big of a blessing to you as it was to me. And maybe it will inspire you to dig into His word and find these things for yourself, along with the requirements for a Titus 2 man.

 

Thursday, March 15, 2012

What About Your Legacy?

I recently read a book my sister let me read after she was done with it. Gotta love those teacher cards from the library- six weeks- no rush.

Anyway, the book was an autobiography on Tim Tebow-

the football player for the Denver Broncos

with a Testimony for God.

(I'll admit, when I saw that game where he

knelt in prayer after a good run, I was a

bit sceptical- another one of those sports people

who says they are a Christian...)

But this was different.

It was a good book,

o.k. i had to wade through all the football language

which I know nothing about.

But his testimony was great. So I leave you with

a quote from his book of the legacy you leave behind.


“...But a legacy that left eternal fingerprints on the lives of others would be a legacy to be remembered in this world and the next. The legacy God intended each of us to leave has to do with the impact our lives have had on the lives of others He calls us to serve. It has to do with the difference our lives make in the world- in our families, with friends, at work, at school, with our coaches and teammates, and all those others around us. Our legacy should be about building in the lives of all those others, doing something for others

that will not only last in their lives here, but for eternity.”

p. 206 of Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow and Nathan Whitaker.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

A Well Seasoned Life

One of my favorite t.v. shows to watch is the Waltons. I love the earlier seasons more so than the later, but the more I watch it the more I notice the love between Grandpa and Grandma Walton. Now I don’t base my life on t.v. shows but I think that God can use anything to get your attention and teach you a lesson.
On one of the episodes the other day Grandpa made a comment to John Boy that Esther was a “well-seasoned wife.” Grandma was standing nearby and when John Boy left she walked over to Grandpa and demanded what he meant by that phrase. Grandpa’s words were priceless. “Like a fine tree, Esther, that’s endured all wind and weather and still stands in beauty.”
That line made me really think. I want to be a well seasoned wife for Matthew. I want to radiate godly beauty now and 50 years from now after we’ve weathered all sorts of trials and tests. I want to be the best wife I can be, filled with the Spirit and made strong by the power of God.
There are so many things I want to be as a wife.



  • I want to be a wife like the Virtuous Woman that my husband can trust, that will bring him good all his life, that makes him known to all for the blessing he is, that cares for him. Proverbs 31

  • I want to be a fruitful vine for him bringing beauty and fruitfulness into his life. Psalm 128:3

  • I want Matthew to be able to rejoice in me, thanking God for bringing me into his life. Proverbs 5:18

  • I want to be his “good thing” Proverbs 18:22

  • I want to be a prudent wife for him, being wise with my time and resources. Proverbs 19:14

  • I want him to want to cleave to his wife Matthew 10:7

  • I want to please my God and my Husband in all that I do I Corinthians 7:34

  • I want it to be easy and a pleasure for him to fulfill his command as a husband- to love me. Ephesians 5:25

  • I want to reverence and honor him Ephesians 5:33


These are the guideline I want to follow to be the wife God wants me to be. In order to become that “well-seasoned” wife I’m going to need to gear up with the Word of God to survive the trials and tests that come.
You never know what God will use to speak to your heart.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

This Year




“In His wisdom God does not show us all that lies ahead. So we enter a new year to live it day by day. What is past is past…we start anew, and what we do today will make our life for tomorrow. …each day let us follow more faithfully, more courageously, more daringly the lead of our great Captain who bids us follow Him. “



William Thomson Hanzsche
 



“Home should be…a place of happiness and joy, laughter and rejoicing. A place to bring friends without the feeling of embarrassment. A place where someone will listen, share, love and understand. A place of quietness, yet a place of life and activity. A haven from a cruel world. A place where they want to be and stay.”



Taken From The Generation to Come by Glenn Taylor