Smorgasbord Tuesday: Green Tea Frappuccino

Frappuccino by powerbooktrance

So I've managed to avoid the Starbucks craze for how many years now?? But about 2 months ago my good friend stopped by my house and dropped me off a Green Tea Frappuccino. It was good; in fact too good! I have since had 3 of them and now I watch for Starbucks. I understand my other friends (you know who you are) who want to stop at Starbucks whenever they can. Addicting!

Well, just like my new Starbucks' addiction I'm also becoming addicted to Ephesians 4:2. I've already talked about this particular verse two times, but here is for the third time:

Ephesians 4:2

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

During the last month, having this verse on the forefront of my life has been a lifesaver and a delicious blessing. I have times in my life where I know conflict is coming; it's pretty predictable. Do you? I have been entering those moments with this verse as my defense mechanism instead of my old "self-protective" methods (which always led to conflict).

I recently used this verse and it again ended up being very helpful to me. In this particular case, I knew conflict was brewing and I breathed in, and said this verse in my head. The verse ends with the word, love and I prayed, "But I don't feel like loving right now, what is love anyway?" And the Holy Spirit brought to mind 1 Corinthians 13 "Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy... it keeps no record of wrong." Oh yeah, "Keeps no record of wrong. I think I'm doing the opposite of that right now." So I proceeded to deal with my own heart issues, instead of what I perceived to be the other individual's issues. And guess what, no conflict ensued. Instead, there was peace and on top of that peace, I was giving an additional blessing from the other individual that was totally unexpected and refreshing.

So I'm not usually a person who promotes addictions. But I am becoming addicted to Ephesians 4:2 and I invite you to become addicted too! It is surprisingly refreshing and enjoyable verse to add into your daily life.

If you've had any "positives" with this verse over the last month, I'd love to hear about it!

Be Blessed,

P.S. If you have a moment stop by and read this blog post: Tiny Dental Mirrors by Adjusting to the World! I was blessed by it so I had to share it with you!

Smorgasbord Tuesday: 2nd half of 7-Layer Salad

A couple Tuesday's ago we began diving into Ephesians 4 and we looked at verses 1-6. I personally posted the verse:

Always be humble, gentle, and patient accepting one another in love!

above my stove. It's has been a good reminder to me and I've spent many time sin prayer before that verse for those "few times" when I didn't want to apply this verse in my home.

Ephesians 4:7-16
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

This is why it says:
"When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men."

(What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower,

earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher

than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets,

some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ

may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the

knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining

to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,

and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and

by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him

who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body,

joined and held together by every supporting ligament,

grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

If there was one thing I would hope you would take from this section of verses it is that:

You are important and you have a role in the body of Christ.

Christ is the HEAD of the body of Christ, I think it is extremely important to notice is the head, not the whole body. As I have emphasized before is that God has invited us into relationship with Him and with others. He is the head, the one we all should be looking at to receive our directions from, but we the church make up the body. A head does not exist without a body. The body does not function without listening to the head and cooperating with all the other parts of the body. What is the connecting power between us all is: LOVE.

One of the weakness of many women is the fault of comparing ourselves to others. We often find ourselves comparing our looks, our hair, our weight, our gifts and talents. We just need to plain old stop it. Our gifts have been apportioned to us by His grace and we each have different gifts and functions. If we spend all of our time looking at how we don't measure up (because we never measure up, do we) we will miss out on two things:

1. Being blessed by the gifts that others are offering to us. For some reason we feel insecure in receiving and we think that if we accept gifts we will be showing our weaknesses to others. If you understand that others have gifts from Christ to offer to you, it might make it easier for you to receive from them.
2. Blessing others with your gifts. Since you "never measure up" you don't think you have anything to offer to others. That again is a lie that you need to combat. You do have things to offer to others and we need you to offer your gifts and talents to us.

By working together in love we are strengthening the body of Christ. It says we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by every whim. Know who you are in Christ and be who you are in Christ. It benefits the whole body!

If you liked this you might also like:

Who I Am

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Smorgasbord Tuesday: Refreshing Lemonade

Made Lemonade by Cote

I know I said my Smorgasbord Tuesdays were going to sit in Ephesians 4 for a few weeks (I plan on coming back to it) but this is what I needed to hear today so I decided to share this instead:

Have you ever been working hard on a hot, hot day outside? All you want after all that work is something cool and refreshing to drink. Sometimes life just gets hard. In those moments it is time to just get back to the word of God and hear what He has to say to refresh us:

Isaiah 26:12
LORD, you establish peace for us;
all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

Are you looking for peace in your life? Are you trying to accomplish something? Isn't this pretty significant ~ all that we have accomplished you have done for us. It doesn't do much good to proceed without Him then, does it?

Isaiah 26:3-4

You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

Perfect peace? Steadfast mind? Trust in Him, the LORD, the LORD, the LORD.

Some may trust in horses, some may trust in chariots but we trust in the name of the LORD.

Isaiah 26:9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
in the morning my spirit longs for you.

Let us choose to put our trust in Him and Him alone this week. His promise back to us is that He will establish peace in our lives.

You might also enjoy reading:

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Fruit of the Spirit: Peace

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Fruit of the Spirit Self-Control

Okay, get out your box of Kleenex (sniff, sniff) this is the last week with the fruit of the Spirit! This has been a 9 week journey and I hope that you have had as much fun as I have had. Okay, I could go on and on but I'm really just stalling because today's fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Who really wants to talk about self-control? Anyone? I see no hands!

This journey began with the fruit of the Spirit love and I think that was the perfect start, because love is the foundation of this whole thing: knowing that we are loved by God and then giving love to all those around us. The journey ends with self-control and I again think this is the perfect ending to this topic. Just like we can't do any of this without love, self-control is the perfect way to get all those other things we talked about into action.

Self-control as a fruit of the Holy Spirit is a perfect example of this balancing act that we've been in this whole journey. One the one hand, these are fruits of the Holy Spirit and so we know that it is an attribute of God that we get to have in our lives. On the other hand, we know that these fruits aren't just "mystical" things bestowed on us without any effort on our part. Self-control is something that we need to put into action, but we also see that it is a fruit of the Spirit, so to have it in a life-changing way will not exist apart from our relationship with the Holy Spirit! I don't know how you've landed on this journey with understanding this balancing act but I've definitely leaned way more into the Holy Spirit to receive all these fruits than I ever have before, and self-control will be no exception!

As we probably all well know self-control is not an attribute of American culture rather the opposite of self-control i.e. self-indulgence is rampant in our society. From Nike's "Just Do It" to commercials that say "Have it NOW" we and our children are being bombarded by the exact opposite message. I am asking you to take an extra minute to step back with me and see exactly what the Bible has to say about the benefits of self-control in our lives.

Proverbs 25:28
Like a city whose walls are broken down
is a man who lacks self-control.

The full appreciation of this verse is lost on us because of cultural differences, but today's version might say "like a country whose missile defense system is broken, is a man who lacks self-control." As we see in this verse and will see in verses to come self-control is our system of protection. I believe one of the most important things you can teach your children is self-control. The ability to control yourself and not give in to every urge that comes your way will go a long way for your kids. Also, as I said earlier the other fruits such as patience and faithfulness will not work very well unless you have learned to control and stop those initial fleshly reactions.

If you read the book of Titus you will see the word self-control emphasized and given out to everyone. It asks older men, young men, older women and young women to be self-controlled. It also states that elders and deacons should exhibit self-control. We learn in II Timothy that the lack of self-control will be a sign of the last days. Let us, as the people of God, rise above our society and our culture and exhibit self-control and teach our children to be self-controlled. This is not something that is for the "mature" in Christ but it is a necessity for our protection and the protection of the church. We have seen far too often in our culture the damage that is done to the body of Christ when those in leadership are caught in a sin that took place because of the lack of self-control.

I Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert.

Your enemy the devil prowls around

like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith.

This verse warns us to be self-controlled and alert. Guess what, you have an enemy out there prowling around and he is looking for a wide open door to run through. It seems like the lack of self-control is one of the ways of opening up the door to the enemy and saying pick on me, pick on me! We, however, can and should resist him and one of the ways we do this is through exhibiting self-control.

I Thessalonians 5:8
But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled,

putting on faith and love as a breastplate,

and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

Putting Your Clothes on will be one of the ways you can operate in the area of self-control.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

We demolish arguments and every pretension

that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,

and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

A second way to grow in the area of self-control in your life is to take this verses to heart and begin applying them. Take whatever area you are struggling in the area of self-control whether eating, anger, lust etc and begin to submit those thoughts to Christ. We have the power to demolish strongholds. Lets begin doing it!

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Fruit of the Spirit Gentleness

Maracuya (Passion Fruit)

We only have a couple weeks left looking at the fruits of the Spirit. I am kind of sad because I've really enjoyed the whole process. I've learned a lot about the Holy Spirit during this process; I hope that you have learned some new things too!

This week's fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. I think people tend to attribute this trait as a feminine quality, but the more I've been reflecting on it I think men can and should be really good at this fruit, too. I've come up with a definition of gentleness from “Jaime's dictionary:”

Gentleness:
the recognition that you have
the power to break, harm or destroy
the object you are interacting
with because it is precious, fragile
and inferior in power compared to you.
Because of this you choose to restrain your
power and instead use your power to
protect it for its benefit.

I came to this definition by thinking about when we tend to use the word gentle. The scenario that came to my mind was when we talk to toddlers who want to see a baby. The phrase you always hear is, “Be gentle.” Why? Because we recognize the toddler has the power to hurt the baby and that they need to consciously restrain their power in order for the baby to be protected from harm.

Like I said earlier I think as a society we tend to attribute gentleness as a feminine trait but I believe it can be a very masculine trait if men would recognize the meaning of gentleness.

Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not exasperate your children;
instead, bring them up in the training
and instruction of the Lord.

The Lord is very clear that fathers play an important role in training their children to know and understand the Lord. Men by design are powerful creatures in both statures and in word. One of the ways they can achieve the goal of bringing up their children is by treating their children with the gentleness and this can only be learned by being with the Lord.

Philippians 4:5
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

I think this verse clearly points out that one of the evidences of the nearness to the Lord will be gentleness. If gentleness is lacking in your personal life I would suggest doing a few things. One is to get near the Lord. This can happen through prayer, worship, reading your Bible and fellowshipping with others.

The second thing I would suggest is to take time to reflect on what gentleness means. This understanding of gentleness has already started helping me respond to my kids in a more gentle way. I am recognizing that I have power with my words. My words can either destroy or protect their spirits. By consciously recognizing this fact it has helped me to restrain myself when I interact with them. I don't have to prove my “power” to them by being forceful with them. Often times, I think disciplinary struggles flare when there is a power struggle going on. In the end, the parents lose their tempers and gentleness is the farthest thing from their minds (of course I know this only from observation not experience :). The parent is trying to prove to the child that they are in control. However, when you eliminate the power struggle because you are the one in the place of power, you will find that it will be much easier to discipline and to do it with gentleness. You are the one in power in your relationship with your children you do not need to establish this over and over again. If you've “lost” that power with your children, then first reestablish this as a fact in your own mind. You are in control and you have the power to protect or crush your children's spirits. Since you have that power choose to restrain it and use it in a manner that protects and nurtures your child instead of in a way that crushes and destroys their spirits. (For more on parenting check out my post on Training Children.)

Finally, for the greatest understanding of gentleness meditate on the character of God. As we have seen with all the fruits; these character traits are from God ALONE and He blesses us with opportunity to have them in abundance in our lives. He is the All-powerful One. He is the Creator of the Universe! He is powerful we are not! He could choose to force Himself upon us and have us follow Him out of fear and trembling alone. Instead, He restrains His power and came to us in the form of a man, Jesus.

Zechariah 9:9
See, your king comes to you,

righteous and having salvation,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

Or look at I Kings 10:11b-12

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart
and shattered the rocks before the LORD,
but the LORD was not in the wind.

After the wind there was an earthquake,
but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

12 After the earthquake came a fire,
but the LORD was not in the fire.

And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Look at God and how He desires to come to you. As we talked about last week He desires to bring us to repentance through kindness. He also has approached us with a gentle spirit. Gentleness in no way lessens who He is rather it enhances His amazing power.

I hope you enjoy this week basking in the gentleness of the Lord, and letting those around you benefit from His gentleness coming out of you!

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Fruit of the Spirit Faithfulness

This week's fruit of the spirit is faithfulness. I feel that I have a grasp of understanding about this fruit because of my husband. This month we will be married 8 years and we dated for 8 years, so we've been together for 16 years. During our wedding ceremony it was mentioned that one of my favorite qualities of Josh was his faithfulness. That quality still remains one of my favorite quality traits of him. If you have the opportunity to become Josh's friend you have made a friend for life. It doesn't matter if you turn your back on him, or reject him, he will remain faithful to you despite of you because his faithfulness is not dependent upon who you are but it is dependent upon who he is.

Because of this amazing quality trait in my husband I think I am able to have a greater understanding of the faithfulness of God.

2 Timothy 2:13
If we are faithless,

He will remain faithful,

for He cannot disown himself.

God's faithfulness to us is not dependent upon who we are but it is dependent upon His character. We can know without a doubt that God will never abandon us because it would go against His character, who He is, to do that. It has nothing to do with me or my faithfulness but it has everything to do with Him.

I feel blessed to be married to a man that has a genuine character trait of faithfulness. Now I know Josh is a human being, but I have no fears or qualms of him ever being unfaithful to me because I know it would go against the core of who he is. His being unfaithful would require him not only to breech our relationship but it would also require him to go against a core part of himself. Being in a relationship with someone who has a character trait of faithfulness does several things for you. One thing it does is it removes fear. I don't have to worry about what he is doing and I do not have to worry about our future together . I also don't have to try to be a certain way in order to keep his affections on me and me alone. Another thing faithfulness does it creates an atmosphere for trust. I can trust Josh and I can trust the activities that he is doing even when I'm not around because he has promised to be faithful.

I hope this description of my husband gives you a clearer understanding of God and His faithfulness. When we get a grasp of God's faithfulness towards us it will set us free to be ourselves. His love and commitment to us has nothing to do with who we are but has everything to do with who He is. He will not disown us, because to do so would cause Him to disown Himself. So we don't have to live in fear of losing God's faithfulness towards us and we don't have to try to be somebody else in order to keep His affections on us. He loves us just the way we are and He always will. When you remove this fear of abandonment trust can fill its place. If you truly believe that God will always be faithful to you and will never abandon you then you can trust Him through whatever circumstance you find yourself in. There may be times when you think He has left you, or that He is no where to be found. You don't have to fear though that He has given up on you, or found someone else to care about and so now He has no time for you anymore. Instead, you can trust that He has your best interest in mind, and even though you maybe can't see Him at the moment He is caring for you because He alone is the Faithful and True One (Revelation 19:11).

Reflect this week on the faithfulness of God to you. As always, I believe when you grasp the character of God not only in your head but in your heart it will begin to flow out of you naturally to others.

Finally, if fear and abandonment have been a part of your life story I truly believe God desires to speak to that wounded place in your heart. He has promised to never leave you or forsake you. He is asking for you to give Him the broken places of your heart and allow Him to move in them. Do not draw back in fear but let the Great Physician take the wounded places and breathe His life into them.

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Fruit of the Spirit Kindness

Whoops, I just realized I went out of order! Last week was supposed to be kindness not goodness, oh well. Anyway, how was your week with goodness? It ended up being my favorite week thus far. I had several situations where I needed God's goodness and I would pray before I entered the situation and say, “Lord, send your goodness.” It was exciting to watch and see what He would do. It was also exciting to think about all the good things in my life and to give Him all the glory for those things! How was your week with goodness? Did you learn anything new?

This week's fruit is kindness.

Romans 2:1-4
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

Romans 2 shows a negative connection between judgment and kindness. So I thought we could focus on that this week. Kindness to me is being thoughtful, doing something nice for somebody whether a person deserves it or not. The Bible has a lot to say about not judging others and I personally am grateful for all those verses. Judging is something that I struggle with and I blogged about it before during Self-righteousness vs God's righteousness. Romans 2:4 always jumps out at me when I read it, “Did you not know that God's kindness leads you to repentance?” If you are anything like me, when you see a problem in someone else's life you want to get up in their face and help them extract it; right now! The last thing that comes to our mind is the idea of being kind to them right where they are at. Yet how is God with us? We think we have it all together especially when we are comparing ourselves to others, but slowly, kindly, and patiently God pulls back the layers in us and reveals to us another sliver. At that point in time, we can receive God's kindness, repent and allow Him to remove the sliver, or we can yank back and run away with the sliver still intact and the pain of having it exposed. We need to recognize the power of kindness to bring positive change.

Proverbs 25:21-23
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;

if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,

and the LORD will reward you.

As usual, God asks us to treat people in a manner that is opposite of our natural reaction. God asks us to be kind to others whether they deserve it or not. Our job is not to worry about how they will respond to our kindness; whether they will react positively or negatively to it. What we do know is that God will operate through the pathway of kindness not judgment.

If you struggle with this concept the easiest place to start learning about it is by looking at your own life and how God treats you. When you recognize His kindness and mercy to you, it will begin to soften your heart and allow you to look at others through His eyes of kindness. So there is lots to do this week with the Spirit! Reflect on God's kindness towards you and begin to offer the fruit of His kindness to others.

Be blessed,

PS Today's the last day to comment, add e-mail subscription and/or follow my blog in order to qualify you to win one of the 2 books! I look foward to hearing from you.

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Fruit of the Spirit - Patience

Mahesh Kanna's Mangoes

So I'm starting to wonder what I was thinking 4 weeks ago when I thought it would be a good idea to go through the fruit of the Spirit. This journey for me has been like holding a big mirror up to my face and realizing it is full of dark permanent ink. In other words, yeah I need the Holy Spirit and His fruit in my life. The trees are looking awfully bear. How do you look?

Today's fruit is patience and I am by no means an expert on this fruit. I decided that if I were to ever have another child her name would be Patience because that was the next thing I needed to learn. Repeating the word, Patience, 20 times a day keeps the concept on the forefront of your mind! So like I said patience is not my greatest strength which gives me all the more reason to lean into the Holy Spirit.

I guess the theme that has been emerging for me during this journey the last 4 weeks is SURRENDER. I do; I surrender. You grow up a Christian, read the Bible, etc and people begin to look at you like you might be onto something. It starts to creep into your mind, yeah, I am something, I've got this thing down, I know how to be a Christian. Then, you look in the mirror, the word of God, and you realize left on your own you are still a dark stained mess:

Song of Solomon 1:5-6

I'm dark but lovely,

women of Jerusalem,

dark like the tents of Kedar,

like the curtains of Solomon.

Don't look at how dark I am,

at how dark the sun has made me.

My former pastor Shane Holden does a beautiful series on the book of the Song of Solomon relating it to our Christian walk. He hits on the verses above and talks about how we are dark, full of sin, but yet in God's eyes through His grace we remain lovely to Him. My point in all of this, is we need the Holy Spirit ~ like I've said before. If you see things in me that you like and enjoy, it is only there by the grace of God living through me (Put Your Clothes On! and Uprooting a Besetting Sin talk about some of the ways I've grown). I have a few friends that say to me, "Oh, your sooo patient." Well, guess what, I'm not! Any patience I do exhibit I give full credit to the Holy Spirit on those times because He has to reign me in a lot, but I often regrettable escape His grasp and go ahead with what I want to do. We are still working on this one together.

So here is a definition of patience for you scholarly types: The capacity to endure hardship, difficulty, or inconvenience without complaint. Patience emphasizes calmness, self-control, and the willingness or ability to tolerate delay (from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/patience).

If you are like me and patience isn't your strong point, join the club. You need the Holy Spirit and like I said, He will grab a hold of you: your tongue, your thoughts, your actions if you let Him. And when you fail, you jump back into His arms and say, "Let's try it again. You go first this time."

So pull out your journals and let loose. Remember, if you leave a comment, you will get your name entered into the drawing for Sailing Between the Stars by Stephen James.

Love ya,

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Fruit of the Spirit ~ Peace

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zenera/582873622/

So how are you doing? We are on week three of "feasting on the Holy Spirit." The last two weeks we looked at love and joy. Today's fruit is Peace.

John 16:7

Nevertheless I tell you the truth;

It is expedient for you that I go away:

for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you;

but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Today I've decided to discuss the idea of peace by looking at the Holy Spirit as a Comforter. Why and when do we need peace? We need peace when things are a mess. One of the modes I believe the Holy Spirit brings us peace is through the mode of comfort. Before Jesus died, He promised the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come. One of the main ways He chose to describe the Holy Spirit was that the Holy Spirit is a Comforter. This isn't just a "job" of the Holy Spirit but rather it is who He is ~ just like God is love. If you are needing peace and comfort in your life right now you need the Holy Spirit. You don't need a list of things to do, or a new way of thinking. You need the Holy Spirit period. That is why this Christianity thing comes down to a relationship and it is not a list of rules and things to do.

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God. And the peace of God,

which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The kind of peace and comfort that the Holy Spirit brings transcends our understanding. Why? Because the Holy Spirit will walk with us through ANYTHING. The peace of the Holy Spirit is not a free pass to get us out of hardship and trouble, rather He stands before us in the midst of hardship and trouble and guards our hearts because our hearts are the wellsprings of our lives (Proverbs 4:23).

No matter what you are going through I continue to pray that you will allow the Holy Spirit to be who He is and to do what He does best in your life. He is COMFORTER and He brings peace which passes all understanding. He will guard your heart.

So if you are journaling on this journey ~ hit your journals. How is love growing in your life? How about joy? What areas in your life do you need the Holy Spirit to be the Comforter and bring that peace?

Be Blessed,

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Joy

So we are currently going through the fruit of the Spirit on our Smorgasbord Tuesdays. Last week the fruit was love. How did it go for you (please share:)? It was actually harder than I thought it would be. The Lord gave more than enough opportunities to show love; and frankly a lot of the time, I did not feel like loving. I kept hearing "ask the Holy Spirit for love" and I found myself saying, "I don't feel like loving right now, so I'm not going to ask." Just being honest. So I think I went down on my number instead of up. I'm still in agreement with what I said last week, we need the Holy Spirit to help us to love but we do need to ask even when we don't feel like it.

This week's fruit is joy. I've been thinking about the topic all week and I want to say joy is deep and wide and I am only going to skim the surface of it with what I've been thinking about.

I Thessalonians 5:16-18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

The Bible makes it pretty clear that joy is an essential to a successful walk in faith. People want to know what God's will is it's pretty simple: be joyful ALWAYS, pray continually, always give thanks! Yikes, not so easy is it? That is where the Holy Spirit comes in again. As I said last week, we need to invite the Holy Spirit to do what He is more than willing to do. Our flesh, as I experienced last week, wants nothing to do with God's way. It wants to rebel and say no. Joy in whatever circumstance you face I would surmise is impossible if you are not receiving it through the Holy Spirit. We don't have to be joyful at the circumstance, but joy is what gets us through the circumstance. Perhaps joy is the light that bring us through the darkness. My former Pastor Shane Holden said, "No matter how bad things get in this life, you always know that when this life is over we are going to heaven and then things don't look so bad." James said consider is pure joy because of what it will produce. Jesus, "endured the cross because of the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2)." He is our example of how to be joyful and we can only learn this kind of joy by fixing our eyes in Him.

The world views faith as a crutch for weak-minded people. They just don't see or understand, how tough it actually is to walk in God's way. He asks us to do some pretty hard things but guess what, He doesn't expect or ask us to do it on our own. Instead, He asks us to surrender to Him and allow Him to work and move through us to do the impossible. So this week work on inviting the Holy Spirit to bring joy into your life ~ no matter what circumstance you find yourself in at this moment in time.

Okay, so I said joy is complicated and deep. This is just one tiny facet of joy. I am passing along a sermon which hits it from a completely different angle but I personally found it very informative in understanding what joy actually is:

"Advent Joy" by Elliot Pollasch 11/30/08

In addition I blogged about this topic a couple weeks back: Joy

Finally, John Eldredge addresses joy a lot in his book Walking with God, so that's another place to begin diving deeper.

Oh, and you can always read the Bible: there are 248 verses containing the word joy!

So don't forget to write in your journal about where you are with the concept of joy, so you can look back over the upcoming weeks to see what you've learned.

Be blessed,

Smorgasbord Tuesday: The Fruit of the Spirit: LOVE

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bithead/30909049/

So I've decided we will study the Fruit of the Spirit for the next 9 Smorgasbord Tuesdays. Summer is approaching (it's dragging it's feet in WI) and the thought of wearing a swimsuit is upon us. If you are like me, you may have to shed a little of that winter coat you collected over the last 6 months. My sister Wendy and I are doing Jillian's 30 Day Shred together; for us it is more like Jillian's 45-50 day shred, with a few treats in between (it's the thought that counts right?).

Anyway, as I am trying to clean up my diet and exercise it always turns me to applying God's Word into my life(way more enjoyable to me than exercise); hence the idea to study the fruit of the Spirit, to make our spiritual lives more healthy. How do you get fruit in your physical part of life? You either go to the grocery store, or you go directly to the source the fruit tree. You can't just pick it though, you need to eat it in order to get the benefits. The same it true in our Christianity. Do you want the fruit of the Spirit in your life? All you need to do is go to the source and ask for it. Other ways you can "taste" it is by hearing it at church or by reading the Word on your own. But very simply, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, tapping His toes waiting for you to give Him permission to move. Start asking Him for His help and you will see the difference that it makes.

So this week's fruit is LOVE. What is love? Love is patient, it is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not self-seeking, it keeps no record of wrong, it always trusts, always hopes, always preservers. Love comes first, in the list of the fruit because it is the foundation of our lives; nothing is of value if it doesn't contain love. We love because He first loved us. The greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and then to love others. We can't successfully live this life without love. The way to be most successful at living this life is to go to the source who lives inside of you, who wants to help you and teach you how to love!

So here is what I'm asking you to do. If you don't have a journal you should have one! (Don't worry, I only write in mine at least once a month...) Anyway, write down the fruit of the week in your journal and put the rank you would give yourself currently in applying this to your life (from 1 ~ I stink to 10 ~ I've got this down pat!). Now this week take the fruit of the week and apply it to your life ~ not on your own strength though but by asking the Holy Spirit! I'm not about us gritting our teeth and pushing through, because that only lasts for so long. I'm about us experiencing the real freedom that comes only through the working of the Holy Spirit. Next week I will remind you to look back at your journal and write your new number and see if there has been any difference. Get the idea?

Be excited! I am.

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Distinguishing through taste

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”

James 3:17-18

One of my favorite sayings by John Eldredge is, "You will know them by their fruit." If you are unsure whether the things happening in your life are from God or from the enemy you can figure it out by looking at the fruit of what is happening.

James 3:17-18 provides a glance at the some of the "evidence" that would show us things are coming from heaven. God provides us a "check-off" list to see if things came from Him or from the enemy. Is it pure, is it peace-loving, considerate, full of mercy, impartial and sincere? If you can answer yes to these questions, then you know it is from Him.

The verses prior to this section state some of the evidence we can look for to see if it comes from the enemy:

James 3:13-16

Who is wise and understanding among you?

Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility

that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and

selfish ambition in your hearts,

do not boast about it or deny the truth.

Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven

but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have

envy and selfish ambition, there

you find disorder and every evil practice.

I think as Christians we sometimes hurt ourselves by assuming that since we are children of God everything that happens in our life comes from God. We get involved in a situation where we are being hammered and we are surrounded by disorder and evil and we embrace it. The Bible says in Romans 12:9 "Hate was is evil, cling to what is good." I think it is time we start calling things by their face value: evil is evil, we can and should hate it and we can cling to the things that are good and from the Lord.

If you are having trouble defining which category something falls into then run it through the checklist: You will know them by their fruit. I firmly believe we are in a spiritual battle. If we keep running around with our eyes closed thinking the enemy who hate us and is making war against us can't touch us because we are God's children then we will keep getting blown out of the water.

Revelation 12:17

"Then the dragon was enraged at the woman

and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—

those who obey God's commandments

and hold to the testimony of Jesus."

The sooner we open our eyes and realize that God says we are in a battle and that He has equipped us and has given us the ability to say some things are right and some things are wrong, the sooner we can start fighting effectively.

James 1:2-5

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

1:13-17

When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me."

For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire,

he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has

conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin,

when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.

Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,

who does not change like shifting shadows.

If you find yourself caught in a situation where the evidence is from the enemy, don't give in to him. Instead of embracing it and trying to put God's name on it, call it what it is: evil. Then invite Him in to do what only He can do: redeem it and bring good from it. Put Your Clothes On and fight the battle.

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Late night snack

I know you were beginning to think I forgot; I didn't ~ just a little late! For my newbies, welcome! You can read the original concept for this day at the first Smorgasbord Tuesday posting but the general idea is that on Tuesday's I try to pick out a passage of Scripture for us to meditate on. Feel free to leave comments on the Scripture passage. If you like the Scripture, write it down on an index card and stick it some place where you can reflect on it all week long. Enjoy!!

Psalm 8
O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants

you have ordained praise

because of your enemies,

to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;

you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds

and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,

and the fish of the sea,

all that swim the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

The biggest "gift" I left my vacation with was an awe for the majesty of God. There is something about traveling to new locations that allows you to observe a different attribute of God.

One of my favorite things to look at was the wide expanse of the gulf (my parents live on a little island off the gulf coast of Florida. We just cross one little street and we are walking on white sand beaches~ pretty close to paradise). All you could see was water and sky and there was no way to differentiate between where one began and the other ended. You don't get that feeling here in Wisconsin. We are engulfed by trees and houses and you have to look straight up to see the sky. In the city, you get consumed with the things of man and you get caught up in your little life and thinking we are the all in all. Standing in front of crashing waves and seeing nothing but God's creation gives you a sense of how small and insignificant we really are. It caused me to truly surrender to the greatness of God, His awesomeness as a Creator, His strength, power and His majesty.

If you are currently caught up in the problems of your life and are getting consumed by the things of this world I encourage you to step out and observe God's creation. As my women's pastor always says, "We need to step back and see the BIG PICTURE." You don't have to be by the ocean to see the splendor of the King; wherever you are you can observe the beauty of His creation. Perhaps it will pull you back into awe for Him that He even cares for us and in addition to that He loves us and sent His only Son to die for us to make a way for us to go to Him. Enjoy the beauty of the King this week.

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Closed for vacation

Okay, so if you haven't heard I'm vacationing in Florida being spoiled by my Mom, relaxing, enjoying my kids and enjoying God's beautiful creation! So I haven't abandoned ship. I've had a lot stirring in my heart so I'm sure you will benefit from it when I return home.

Psalm 46:10-11
"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

I encourage you today to take a few extra minutes to be still and know that He is God!

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Dark Chocolates

http://www.flickr.com/photos/foodista/3430773880/

I Kings 19:11-13

The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain

in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD

is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind

tore the mountains apart and shattered

the rocks before the LORD,

but the LORD was not in the wind.

After the wind there was an earthquake,

but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

12 After the earthquake came a fire,

but the LORD was not in the fire.

And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

These verses are from one of my top two favorite stories in the Bible (the other favorite is God passing in front of Moses~ okay I guess I can think of more favorites, so hard to choose!). I love this story because it shows the character of God. So often we are looking for God in the big things, asking for Him to write the answers to our questions in the clouds; we think that would be so much easier. But the way God desires to speak to us in through a whisper, a gentle whisper.

Psalm 46:10

"Be still, and know that I am God"

I don't know why he chooses this way to talk to us but He does. I think we often feel that God is removed and not a part of our lives because we are always looking for Him in the big things, but I think the reality is is that we often miss the presence of God in the everydayness of life because we overlook His quiet whisper.

After my post yesterday, Birth Control Heads Up I got to thinking about the whisper of God. I had been on the pill for the first 3 months of my marriage. I had talked to my own physician and also my friend that I had dessert with the other night and at the time I was continually reassured by both parties that there was no reason I should be concerned about being on the pill. However, it did not sit well with me and I chose to get off the pill without having a "real valid reason" to get off. Now 7 1/2 years later I'm getting an understanding of why I got off the pill and I am recognizing that I was hearing that "small quiet voice" of the Lord. At that point in time, I didn't really understand that God whispered to my heart, but thank God that I listened.

So anyway, as I sat thinking about it today, I was watching my bubbly 3 1/2 year old running, laughing and just being silly throughout my house and I began connecting dots that I hadn't connected before. In case you didn't know, Mercea was quite a surprise! In fact, Josh made me take 2 pregnancy tests before he would believe it ~ and still at times claims he doesn't know who her father is. As I was thinking back about the birth control issue I realized she probably wouldn't be here if I had chosen the pill. What it made me think of is how God is the master weaver and storyteller. He foresaw the future and He knew the desires of my heart. He removed an obstacle I had placed in the way 3 years before it was even in the way. Even though He is worthy of all of our praise, He isn't a "show-off" and He often sneaks around in quietness fulfilling our hopes and dreams in ways we might not even recognize until years later.

My encouragement for you this week is to step back, be still and to continue learning to listen to the small quiet voice of the Lord. If there are "big things" you are looking for begin to wait on the Lord and let Him demonstrate His love for you in the quiet ways:

Psalm 37:3-7b

Trust in the LORD and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD

and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD;

trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,

the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Beef Jerky

Joshua 3:6-13

Joshua said to the priests, "Take the Ark of the Agreement

and go ahead of the people." So the priests lifted the Ark

and carried it ahead of the people.
7 Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to make you great

in the opinion of all the Israelites so the people will

know I am with you just as I was with Moses.

8 Tell the priests who carry the Ark of the Agreement

to go to the edge of the Jordan River and stand in the water."
9 Then Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen

to the words of the Lord your God.10 Here is proof that

the living God is with you and that he will force out the

Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites,

Amorites, and Jebusites.11 The Ark of the Agreement with

the Lord of the whole world will go ahead of you

into the Jordan River.12 Now choose twelve

men from among you, one from each of

the twelve tribes of Israel.13 The priests will ,

the Ark of the Lord, the Master of the whole world

into the Jordan ahead of you. When they step into

the water, it will stop. The river will stop flowing

and will stand up in a heap."

This particular passage has opened up my eyes to give me some new understanding on prayer. In this passage God asked the priests to go ahead of the people into a river of water. What did it take for the priests to do this? It took faith and action. Did they go alone though? No, they went with the Ark of Agreement in their hands. What did the Ark of Agreement contain? It contained the Master of the whole world in it.

One thing that I enjoy doing is interceeding on behalf of others. This story opened my eyes of what we sometimes do as intercessors. Sometimes there is a river preventing the people of God from moving through into the "promised land." We as intercessors can gather together and step into that river in faith. We don't step in alone, though, but we step in carrying the promises of God, the agreements He has made with His children. When we step in we are preparing the way for the people of God to move through on dry land to the other side.

The priests stayed in the river until everyone was across. Sometimes as intercessors, we get tired, but remember who and what you are carrying and wait in the river till everyone makes it across!

So these are just my thoughts... Something for you to chew on (beef jerky is chewy and takes awhile to swallow. This my cause some of you to pause and think, and that is a good thing).

Enjoy, Jaime

Smorgasbord Tuesday

Since I'm new to blogging, I've been looking at other people's blogs to see how to effectively do this thing. It seems a popular thing to do with blogging is to have a Theme Day. It gives the readers something to look forward to and gives the bloggers something to blog about. So I've decided to start a theme day called: Smorgasbord Tuesday.

As I've looked through my posts I have seen a food theme emerging. I had Everlasting Gobstopper, Cream-filled Doughnut and How do you Taste. As you can tell I enjoy food and I like God's Word, so I guess I also like putting the two together hence the emergence of Smorgasbord Tuesday.

Smorgasbord Tuesday will simply be "delicious Scripture" passages for you to meditate on during the week. I will probably add a few comments, etc. I do recommend if you enjoy the Scripture that you write it down on a 3x5 index card and post it somewhere for you to look at later.

Finally, you are always invited to "feast" with me. Food is always more enjoyable when shared with others. So there is an "open invitation" on Tuesday's for you to add your two cents to the Scripture shared or if you have a Scripture burning on your heart to post it, too. So thanks for joining and enjoy!

Isaiah 59:16-20 (a combo of NCV &NKJV)

And He saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no intercessor;

therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him,

and His righteousness, it sustained Him.
for He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation upon His head;

and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in the coat of his strong love.

According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay,

fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies;

to the islands He will repay recompense.
So shall they fear the name of the LORD

from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun.

When the enemy shall come in like a flood,

the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

I love the book of Isaiah, because you see Jesus so clearly portrayed 300 years before He was even born on earth. The Jesus who is described here is the same yesterday, today and forever! Our Saviour is our Intercessor and he intercedes for us daily (Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them).

And guess what, do you remember Ephesians 6 (discussed in Put Your Clothes On), don't these clothes Jesus dresses himself in sound familiar? Jesus offers to dress us in the same clothes that He wears when He goes out to battle!

One of my favorite parts from this Scripture is that "he wrapped himself in the coat of his strong love." Wow, what a beautiful picture. Our Redeemer is coming cloaked in love and not just any love but his STRONG love and He is wrapped up in it ~it is not going anywhere!

He will be paying back our enemies!

My last favorite part is "When the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against Him!" I don't know about you but sometimes I do feel like the enemy comes in like a flood. I am going to rest (or hide) behind the standard the Lord lifts up against him.

Back to Eph 6 it says after we've done everything we are to just stand. I believe we are in a battle but I also believe we have the ultimate Warrior fighting for us and sometimes He asks us just to stand firm wrapped up in His clothes while He steps out and fights on our behalf.

If you find yourself in a battle against the enemy this week hide yourself this week in the Man described in this Scripture and allow Him and His strong love to take vengeance against your enemies.

Enjoy, I'm full!

Cream Filled Doughnut

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonnipink/527237340/

This morning I read Psalm 16. It was filled with so much good stuff I couldn't help but share it with you. Enjoy, it reminds me of a cream filled doughnut except it not only tastes good but it is good for you too!

Psalm 16

Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing." As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

These verses speak to me about the beauty of being with the Lord. You, Oh Lord, I take refuge in. Whether you are in a good place in your life right now or not the only safe place to be is in the hands of the Lord ~ He is our strong tower and portion forever!

Apart from you, Oh Lord I have no good thing. Look around your life today, what are the good things that you see? Praise the Lord for those good things!

We are the "saints," do you see how we are viewed? "As the glorious ones" and "in whom is all my delight!" Live everyday as a glorious son or daughter of God and know that you are delighted in by God and by others.

Walk today in the portion that the Lord has assigned for you. He has made those lines secure.

We do have a delightful inheritance awaiting us!

The Lord is our Counselor ~ He has given us the Holy Spirit to speak to us and instruct us through everyday. Cling to Him. The Lord is always before me and He is at my right hand (He also hems us in from behind)! I woke up this morning and the word I described for how I was feeling was "shaken." After I read these verses I realized where I wasn't resting. Invite the Lord to have His full place in you which is before you, beside you and behind you. His Word promises us that when we are in that place we will not be shaken.

Thank you Lord for making known to us the path of life ~ I invite the fullness of joy that only exists in your presence to fill me today and to have your eternal pleasures in my life. I love you Lord!

Everlasting Gobstopper

http://flickr.com/photos/talkinhonky/1260530494/

I guess I have a set of verses for this year. I have never intentionally set out to "find" verses that would be my theme for a year, but I just realized that I do have some.

I'm calling them my "Everlasting Gobstopper" verses because they are a chunk of verses that are filled with life and are full of something new every time I look at them. It doesn't matter how long I meditate on these verses they are full of something challenging for me. So I guess they are my verses for this year.

Before I share my candy with you I'll tell you where I put them. I like to write out verses that challenge me on an index card. I currently have a recipe protector by my stove and instead of protecting my recipes I put my verses there. Then when I'm in the kitchen, which is quite often, I can glance over and meditate on my verses. My Gobstopper has been there for 2 or 3 months now and doesn't seem to be leaving anytime soon.

Colossians 3:1-4, 8-10, 12-18 (NLT)

Since you were raised from the dead with Christ, aim at what is in heaven, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Think only about the things in heaven, not the things on earth. Your old sinful self has died, and your new life is kept with Christ in God. Christ is your life, and when he comes again, you will share in his glory. But now also put these things out of your life: anger, bad temper, doing or saying things to hurt others, and using evil words when you talk. Do not lie to each other. You have left your old sinful life and the things you did before. You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you. This new life brings you the true knowledge of God. God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So you should always clothe yourselves with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other, and forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you. Even more than all this, clothe yourself in love. Love is what holds you all together in perfect unity. Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking, because you were all called together in one body to have peace. Always be thankful. Let the teaching of Christ live in you richly. Use all wisdom to teach and instruct each other by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Everything you do or say should be done to obey Jesus your Lord. And in all you do, give thanks to God the Father through Jesus. Wives, yield to the authority of your husbands, because this is the right thing to do in the Lord.

Here are some of the areas of challenge that I get from these verses:

• It reminds me of my position in Christ.


• Where Christ is located and where my thoughts really should be focused.


• The things I should be getting rid of and the things I should be replacing those areas with.


• Reminding me that this life is really all about LOVE.


• The need for true Peace.


• The importance of singing and thankfulness


• Thankfulness again!


• Walking this thing out right where it starts, with my relationship with my husband.

Do you have an everlasting gobstopper this year? If so I'd love to hear it!

PS I love the picture I found because to be FREE is the goal of all this isn't it!