I Am, Are You?

Matthew 13:45-46

 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
  Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."

Christ came to seek me. 

I am 

"One Pearl of Great Price"

He sought me,

 

 Then He bought me with His own precious blood,

 

and I became a goodly pearl.

 

Isn't that wonderful?

 

We are pearls of great price, 

valuable to our Owner.

Amazing Counsel

Commentary on Psalm 144:12

Ver. 12. (first clause). To Young Men. Consider,

1. What is desired on your behalf: "Sons may be as plants", etc.

a) That you may be respected and valued. b) That you may have settled principles and virtues. Plants are not blown hither and thither. c) That you may be vigorous and strong in moral power.

2. What is requisite on your part to the accomplishment of this desire.

a) A good rooting in Christ. b) Constant nourishment from the word of God. c) The dews of divine grace obtained by prayer. d) A resolute tendency within to answer the God appointed purpose of your existence. --J.F.

  Ver. 12. (second clause). To Young Women. Consider,

1. The important position you may occupy in the social fabric: "As cornerstones."

a) The moral and religious tone of society is determined more by your character and influence than by those of men. b) The complexion of home life will be a reflex of your conduct and character, either as daughters, sisters, or wives. c) The moulding of the character of the next generation, remember, begins with the mother's influence. d) Let these facts weigh with you as a motive in seeking the grace of God, without which you can never fulfil your mission worthily.

2. The beauty which ought to belong to you in your position. "Polished after", etc. The beauty of,

a) Heart purity: "The King's daughter is all glorious within." b) A noble and modest conduct: "wrought gold", no imitation; real gold. c) Gracious and gentle demeanour.

3. How both the right position and right beauty are obtained. a) By yielding yourselves to God. b) By Christ dwelling in your heart. b) By becoming living stones and polished stones under the workmanship of the Holy Spirit. --J.F.

Serving Your Generation

(From June 11)

“For David, after he had served his own generation
By the will of God, fell on sleep…”
Acts 13:36

    Twice now this past week someone has mentioned this verse to me. And for some reason it never stuck out to me before. My sister and I always say that we wish we lived a long time ago, even though the work was hard, life was simple and people were satisfied. But I was talking to my friend while working one day about my desire to start a website to help teen girls with the issues they face. She was saying how God puts us here, in this time period, to reach our generation. In some ways we must come up/ keep up with ways that our generation lives. A website is a prime way for people to be reached in this generation.
     Apparently God felt it important to mention that David reached his generation. And the Bible is still true for us today. May we reach our generation too.

         But how did David serve and reach them?
              And How can we?
Looking at his life just briefly I found some things that stuck out to me.
1. He was faithful and obedient to His father.
       He tended the family sheep(a girl’s job in Bible times) and carried supplies to his brothers.
2. He had courage to stand up to Goliath without protective armour
        He knew this enemy of God needed to be taken care of and he didn’t need anything but God and a strong dose of faith. He is mentioned in Hebrew’s Hall of Faith because of this.
3. He used his talents for God’s Glory
        He played his harp skillfully, first for his sheep and then as a form of comfort for King Saul’s troubled spirit.
        He also wrote or composed the majority of the Psalms which still give comfort today.
4. He had friends that encouraged his to do right
        Jonathon was like a brother, but he was older than David. He gave us his position with out a fight - so David could do God’s will.
5. He tried not to abuse his position
         He was king and could have let his position pull him away from the Lord. Instead he prepared to build the Temple (furthering the work of God)
6. He knew how to confess and forsake when he sinned
         He did abuse his position but not going to war, seeing Bathsheba bathing, killing Uriah, and marrying Bathsheba, but we was convicted, he confessed,  and he was restored.
7. He Fought and was a man of war
          David had to conquer the land, defeat the worldliness. He knew God didn’t want His children influenced by the pagan customs and lifestyle.
8. He was a man of God with Convictions
       God called him a man after God’s own heart and we know he was chosen, not because of the outward appearance but because of his heart.
9 He did great things for God
       Battles were won, preparations were made for the Temple, songs were written, God was glorified, and he raised Solomon to be the next, and wisest king.

There are more things I know, but the point is: David’s generation could see what he lived for and he served/ reached them. Esther had her generation to serve “For such a time as this.: (Esther 4:14)       

                              How will I serve and reach my generation?
                                       How will you?

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.

 

“A woman’s heart should be so close to God
that a man should have to chase Him to find her.”
C S Lewis

Ways to Serve God as a Young Person

I'm Not Sure where I got this, to tell you the truth I think I was just thinking and studying about it one day back when I was at college. And of course, it doesn't just apply to young people.

1. Obey and Honour your parents Eph. 6:1-2
2. Obey Authority Heb. 13:17
3. Grow in Grace (Your Christian walk) 1 Peter 3:18
4. Grow in the Knowledge of the Lord 2 Tim. 2:15
5. Do well in School and Everything Else you do Ecc. 9:10
6. Use your Talents for Him Rom. 10:6-8
7. Share the Gospel (the Good news of Christ) Mark 16:15
8.Serve Others Gal 5:13
9. Encourage Others (Consolation) Rom. 14:19

My Girlhood

My Girlhood is a pleasant place
Where life and love abound,
For here it is that all I am
Is waiting to be found.
In play I spend an endless time
Where only I can go,
A child still inside the girl
A pure-white, budding rose.

My girlhood is a time for God,
His had, his voice, His face,
His steady stream of steadfast love
Within my days I trace.
I rest assured of this one thing
He’ll never leave my side,
For in my girlhood heart of hearts,
He always will abide.

My girlhood is all I need
To learn of servant-hood,
For here my Father and my Mother
Seek only what is good.
They take the time to teach me well
And help me understand,
That girlhood is a time of life
To lend a helping hand.

My girlhood is a priceless gift
A training ground, you see,
Where love for other, sisters and brothers
Will always be the key.
For God will cover my girlhood years
In all I do and say,
‘Til someday a woman I will be
When girlhood passes away.

True Beauty

“We live in a world that has trained us to see nothing but our flaws. The first thing we see in the mirror is the volcano-sized pimples, crooked noses, and Dumbo ears. But when God looks at us He sees perfection - not because He sees us as we are, but because He sees us for who we can be in light of His love for us. His love makes us elegant. His love makes us beautiful. His love gives us purpose and reveals to us who we truly are.”

Exerpt from God Called A Girl by Shannon Kubiak

Life Lessons Learned on the Way to Marriage- Part 2

Sorry it’s taken me so long for part two of my article. Hope you enjoy.

• God will bring you to a point in your life where you will want to spend more time with your fiancé and less time with your family. “Now, hold on one minute!” I read your mind, didn’t I? Let me explain myself. I didn’t say you completely forsake your family and only spend time with your fiancé. That isn’t biblical, but I do believe this is a growing point in your life (please note, I feel this pertains more to the couple that knows God has intended them to marry). This is God preparing you for that verse in the Bible, “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife;” (Mark 10:7) Those who know me know that my family is a huge part of my life, and it is comforting to me that God has brought a man into my life to fill part of that spot and begin a new family together.
• The wife sets the tone of the home, and you set the tone of your current relationship. I heard somewhere that the wife/mother sets the tone of the home. You’ve heard it: “If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” I am not married yet but I am forming habits as we talk and spend time with each other. If every time we talk I criticize or complain (one of my biggest struggles), I am setting a habit for our future home. I know that is wrong and I know I want our home to be a haven of rest, security, peacefulness and evidence that the Lord is the Master there. Watch the habits you are forming now, and weed out the bad ones.

Life Lessons Learned on the Way to Marriage

Recently I started getting an e-magazine called Ladies in Waiting by a single girl named Sarah Ann. I don't agree with everything that is said, and they do use the wrong Bible version sometimes. When you sign up as a member you have access to all the older magazine where there is a vast array of information in these articles. I only got them to read for a while but the magazine is made up of articles submitted by girls around the world. The one topic interested me, Content in the Here and Now. So I wrote an article for it. I really enjoyed doing it and the next magazine I wanted to write for, as it had to do with missions, but I was too busy with schoolwork.

I was very surprised by the topic for the upcoming issue of Ladies in Waiting,Preparing for Marriage and Keeping Pure, because I am in this stage of life.I've been wanting to post some of these lessons I've learned so I decided to post it in incriments like I wrote it for the magazine.

I am engaged to be married to the most wonderful godly man that could have been created to complete me. Less than four months remain until the wedding, and I am also graduating from Bible college in less than 3 weeks, my life is busy and sometimes I rush about so much I have to learn things the hard way. There are things you never really thought about or could really fathom as a single lady, that all changes when God brings that special person into your life. Your life has a whole new focus, you want to be the best person you can be for that person and this is where one of the first lessons comes into play:

1. To be the best person for your future spouse, you must strive to be the best you can for God.
   If I am living my life as the woman God wants me to be than I will be the woman Matthew needs me to be. Rather than trying to live to please the people in my life I must strive to please God and all other’s needs will be fulfilled.

Have You Had Your Beauty Sleep?

We’ve heard people say it all the time, “I need my beauty sleep.”
Now we know that all the sleep in the world doesn’t make someone become more beautiful,
…or does it?
After working the one week and getting very little rest I began to think about that saying, but in a different light. I found myself becoming very irritable and easy to spout off hurtful words. Then I noticed I became more emotional and run down making me feel like crying or just falling in a hole and sleeping for days. (Yes, this was the point I was at!) So I looked at that saying with a spiritual light, what are you like when you are tired and worn out?
God’s Word tells us that we need to guard our heart because that’s what comes out in our action.

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23)

If I am not taking care of my heart that will be evidenced in my life by my actions. And if I am not getting the proper amount of sleep I am not functioning well. Which means I am not understanding what I am reading in my devotions and when I try to pray I become weary and tired. You see the point I am trying to get to is that when I am not getting the physical sleep I need, I’m not taking care of the body God has given me. I cannot live my life to please the Lord if all that is coming out in my actions(the evidence of my heart) is ugliness. Thus getting the physical rest we need is helpful to being a beautiful woman of God, not for physical beauty but to be spiritually beautiful.
Remember that spending time with God is important, and spending that time with Him will bring spiritual rest also. Spiritual tiredness puts a strain on our relationship with the Lord and deprives us of the blessings that we could have
.

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10

So be sure to take time to take care of the temple of God that He’s given you, you may not become more physically beautiful with sleep, but it will help you become a more beautiful woman of God. Being alert physically helps you become more alert to the spiritual truths God has to show you. Are you getting your beauty sleep?

Being A Girl Who Serves Notes

The following are points taken from a book that I recently read that was an encouragement to me, Being a Girl Who Serves by Shannon Kubiak Primicerio. I will put a disclaimer in and say that I don’t agree with everything she says and she doesn’t use the right Bible version but in all it was a really good book and help me put some things back in line.

• True servant hood is a lifestyle and a lifelong commitment. A servant who trusts their master is always going to be more willing to serve.
• Life becomes exciting when we dare to take risks that count for something.
• What are we risking out lives for? Because everything in life is a risk. Be sure that in the risks you take you aren’t rash in your decisions. It’s little steps of obedience that prepare you for bigger ones. The places God asks us to go and the things He asks us to do may not always be earth shattering but they will make an impact.
• God uses those who are out there moving and searching because they have no plans of their own.
• God gives us talents and gifts to use to serve Him, not lie dormant. He has a purpose for the things He made you good at.
• Insecurity is a form of pride- dwelling on what we can or cannot do or what people will think of us.
• Sometimes we are called to serve in places that make us uncomfortable, and pride keeps us from doing God’s will.
• Many times it’s what we don’t want to do that God has for us. Don’t refuse to stoop and have God force you to stoop!
• So many hope they have to courage to die for Christ but they won’t even live for Him now.
• Mary and Martha both had a servants heart. Take times to be still and know God rather than rushing around like a maniac. Great peace and joy come from sitting at His feet. Before you can serve you must sit. Forget about everything and everyone and spend time with Christ.
• How often do we look for someone to serve? Three things a servant of God should do when serving: 1). Call them by name, 2). Put them at ease, 3). Give them a place of belonging.

Yet He Loves Me!

I was reading me devotions this morning then meditating on what I read. In Psalm 8:4 (which Matt just wrote about) I was thinking of what we have in Christ, what He makes us.

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?"

Ps. 8:4

Before we come to know Christ we are pathetic. I think of what I was before I knew Christ: I was a worm, dung, unworthy. If I were to work in the King's palace before I was saved I wouldn't be worthy to even be a maid that empties the chamber pots. I'm sorry if that is inapropriate to some, but that was the dirtiest, foulest, job I could think of. I wouldn't be worthy enough for that! But, God saved me and with Him, as my Father, I am now a daughter of the King. Praise him for his love and kindness to me, a poor wretched sinner. Aren't you so thankful that God makes us all new? And it's the same for guys, He takes you from the lowest position and makes you His son, an heir to the Kingdom! What love! Isn't it just wonderful that we can serve a Father like that?

I was just blown away this morning when I thought it. I hope it was a blessing to someone else.

To Single Girls

I was catching up on some posts from a blog that I couldn't keep up with while in Germany and I came across this article called Happily Ever After. Catchy, right? This was a really good post and I recomend you single girls out there to read it. Here is the direct link to it: http://blog.ylcf.org/2008/08/happily-ever-after.html Hope you enjoy it, it was a blessing to me!