The Beginning...

Genesis 1

To study the Israelites, one must being with their beginning. Their beginning is "In the beginning…" Their beginning begins with God and it is He who takes them through their tumultuous history. So in essence this will be a study, not only of the Israelites, but of God. It will be a study of God, as God the Father, but also of the Messiah, and the Holy Spirit.

Father in heaven, please cleanse my mind as I study Your Word. I want Your Word to wash me anew and shape me more and more into Your image. I want to be obedient to You and crazily in love with You.

Genesis 1:1-15

God said - God did. God made a statement and then God completed the action.

Application: What God says, He does. I can trust Him. I can trust Him to provide for me while I do what He has called me to do. I can trust that He will discipline me. I can trust Him to conform me to His image. I can trust that He knows best - in timing, in actions, in my walk with Him.

Stars as Signs - signs: marks, banner, omen, pledge, witness. Matthew 2:2,9,10 - the Magi saw the star and it led to the Christ. The stars reveal God's character - Romans 1:20. The stars are a witness of God's work and are declaring His Glory - Psalm 19:1-6. They are declaring His Righteousness - Psalm 50:6. The heavens are controlled by Him, and obey Him - Psalm 50:4, in the Gospels when they calm down. He controls the constellations and heavens - Job 38:31-33.

Application: God made the stars and one of their purposes was to be "signs". One of the times they were signs, was to the Magi in leading them to the Christ. God created them with that situation in mind, meaning that God knew He would have to send His Son in human form, also meaning that God knew there would be a reason to send a Savior, also meaning God knew Adam would sin and mankind would become corrupt and degenerate. Therefore, God sees the end of the picture and has already planned for those things in the middle. God has Plan "A" and there is no need for an alternative Plan "B". In light of this, I can rest assured that God is in control even when life is out of my control.

Practical Application: Practice Philippians 4:6,7 today. Pray, Give thanks, actively choose to believe God and trust His revealed character.

Fact or Feeling?

“As a woman, my emotions play a huge part in my life and decision making process. I am neither proud nor ashamed of this – it is simply how it is in my life. Since coming to SYME God has taken great strides at bringing me to understand and realize that emotions are not a firm foundation. They are as reliable as a sandcastle on a beach during a hurricane. They turn and change as quickly as the clouds.

Being on the praise band has been such a wonderful experience and training ground. To have the responsibility to help lead worship is weighty. It is a HUGE motivation to live a pure life. When temptations come, I am reminded about praising God and being pure before Him and people and it is a big encouragement to maintain a pure life. Being on the Praise Team has shown me that even when I don’t feel like worshipping and don’t feel close to God that I can still praise Him. When I think that God doesn’t hear me or answer me and I feel as though I can’t sing Him a song, He reminds me that the true heart of worship is not about me.

True worship is not an emotional experience but giving honor and praise to God because He is worthy. His worthiness has absolutely nothing to do with my emotions but everything to do with the truth of Who He is. In James 1:17 it says that the Father does not change like shadows. In Hebrews 13:8, it tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. If Christ was worthy of praise and honor yesterday, than He is still worthy today. Because His character is permanent, I can offer praise even when I don’t feel like it because He is still the same.

1 Thessalonians 5:16 tells us to “Be joyful always”; Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”; Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” . Those are not suggestions but commands. To honestly and completely obey God, those are things that should characterize our lives.

Besides the fact that we are commanded to rejoice in the Lord always, why should we rejoice? Isaiah 61:10 “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. God has given me righteousness and a relationship with Him. So it doesn’t matter what comes, I have peace and good standing with the only true God. On that standing alone I can have joy no matter what!

In conclusion, God has taught me that my emotions don’t make Him worthy of praise, but I can praise Him always because of Who He is. He also taught me that I can rejoice always in every situation because He is worthy and because of His loving-kindness. My emotions change all the time, but I can always praise Him because He never changes!”

“Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.”
~Psalm 107:21, 22

Holding Hands and Pockets

This morning I went for a walk with God. It was needed. This past week has been really tough and this morning was a great time for God to remind me that HE is God (Psalm46:10), that He will never leave me (Hebrews 13:5,6), and that He has loved me with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3).

For a moment, I felt like a little girl who's dad was dropping her off for her first day of school.

I didn't want to let go of his hand and move on with the necessary. Then HE reminded me that I am His little girl and that I may have to go to school, but I never have to let go of His hand. In fact, His hand is ALWAYS on me (Psalm 139:9,10 and Nehemiah 2:18). He is with me no matter where I am, and His gracious hand is on me.

As I walked back to the school from my prayer spot, I had my hands in my coat pockets and realized that I could walk to school holding my FATHER'S hands even with my hands warm in my pockets!

It was awesome!

I know that even when I don't FEEL God, that He is there. The moments when you DO feel Him near you are all the more precious because you've been through the emotional valley...

God is my Father and I am His daughter. I never have to let go of His hand - even when I put my hands in my pockets to keep them warm! And my Father likes that!

Zephaniah 3:17 " The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save, He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

Prayer and Faith

God has such a sense of humor! Really!

Since I arrived in Japan at the beginning of January, God has been teaching me about:

1. God has a plan.
2. God prepares the people to accomplish His plan.
3. God does not talk to me about the people He is preparing for the other end of His plan.
a. He expects me to listen
b. He expects me to follow and obey
c. He expects me to do those things in Faith
4. He will follow through with the plan He has.
5. He will be glorified.

God is so incredible! Wow! So after using Peter and Cornelius in Acts to teach me this, God takes me to Ezra for Quiet Time and shows me this process again! The king, the people that will stay in the king's land and then the people that will go to rebuild the temple! God prepared each person for the job that God wanted finished.

Then we go through the journey of questions:
Are we going to obey God even though these people are discouraging us?
Or are we going to trust that God brought us here and is with us and is stronger than our enemies?
Are we going to allow impuritites to come into our worship to the ONLY God?
Are we going to get discouraged in our work for the LORD to the point that we lay aside our relationship with Him?
Are we going to mourn in the past or rejoice in what we have with God NOW?

Then God took me to 1 Samuel 1: Hannah has a hurting heart and brings her tears and brokenness before the LORD.

He hears her and answers her prayer, and in response to His answering, she delighted to give Samuel (the answer to her prayer) back to the LORD. Actually, God answered her prayer because He knew her motive for asking. God tells us in James 4:3 that if our motive for asking for something is not right, He will not answer.

Hannah went to the LORD, for Him to be honored and glorified. In response the LORD answered and Hannah delighted to give Samuel back to the LORD.

What is my motive for asking things from God? Is my motive one that GOD be honored, OR one that I be made happy or comfortable?

After taking this uncomfortably exposing, yet desperately needed lesson, He moved on to teaching me about Fact (truth) over Feelings.

What am I living my life guided by?
Am I living by the truth of the Word of God, or by my feelings/experiences/emotions?

Once we had that established, He moved on to teaching me about Faith. That's where we are now.

Faith: Walking in the direction God has shown, even when you can't see.

I guess it started with the faith that Peter, Cornelius, Paul, Ezra, and Hannah showed when they interacted with God through prayer, and interacted with others through their actions.

This morning, I read about Elijah in 1 Kings 18. Elijah had deep faith in God. His prayer life showed that so beautifully. He prays for the drought and then on the mountain with the priests of Baal, he drenches the altar before the LORD. His prayer is not only for fire from heaven for the sacrifice but also for a fire to be lit in the hearts of the people, that they may repent.

Listen to this! God heard and answered Elijah's prayer request! Elijah prayed with the right motive! Elijah prayed in faith. The next thing to happen was the coming of the rain, but just before the rain came, Elijah prostrated himself before the LORD and prayed for the rain, knowing it would come. He sent his servant 8 times to see if the rain was coming. Each time the servant comes back with a negative answer and still Elijah is praying in faith knowing that God will answer his prayer request. Finally, the rain comes and Ahab (who acts by sight and not by faith) leaves the mountain in his chariot. Elijah, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, RUNS down the mountain and beats Ahab to bottom. Whoa!

How incredible! The connection between obedience, faith, prayer and God causing revival! WoW!

This is what God has been teaching me the past month - there have been other things but this has been the main idea...

I don't know where God is leading me next but I do know that He knows best, is preparing me and the other end of the situation and He wants me to obey because I see Him as He is and people/sin/me as He sees them. He also wants me to have faith in Him that shows itself through my actions, and prayer life.

YEAH God! You're Awesome! :)

The Beginning?

OK, so this is my first blog but that's OK... I think it's a great idea to write about what God is teaching me and I want to do it in a way that others can easily read. Not for my benefit but for God to get the glory of working in someones life. Anyway....

Right now I'm in Japan working as a short-term missionary teaching English and the Bible to interested college age students. This is an incredible opportunity and I LOVE that fact that God can use me. I love being here! There are many reasons and one of those reasons is that in studying to teach I have to study to learn for myself! God has taught me SO much through my teaching preparations!

More later!