The Lord has done great things for us! During this season of Thanksgiving, take time to do one of the following!
Option 1 – Write Bible verses that name the attributes of God on fruit-shaped cut-outs. Place them in a basket or cornucopia. During a time of family devotions or at a meal, have each family member select a fruit from the basket and read the verse aloud. Then discuss ways your family has experienced each of God's qualities.
Option 2 – Think about reasons for ingratitude. Most of us are incredibly blessed, yet we find reasons to complain. This week, any time family members complain about something, have them place money in a jar. Your family can decide the amount. Then at the end of the week, donate the money to the soup kitchen or mobile meals to help with Thanksgiving meals.
Option 3 – Think of someone you love and appreciate, but rarely see. Make plans to call, send a card, or visit that person. Find out if there is a special need, pray with the person, and provide materially or with an act of service.
Option 4 – Focus on praising God. Let each family member select a praise chorus or hymn. Sing a different one at each meal instead of saying a blessing. Thank God for material provision, physical health, spiritual blessings, our country, our church, and family.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Note from a friend
I'd like to share with you a note I received from a friend tonight in Bible Study...
Keep your eyes and heart open in the days ahead.
Pay attention to what God is saying to you at this time in your life.
Tune out the negative, corrupt voices of this confused culture we live in.
Live your life convicted in the knowledge of this unshakable truth...that God's Spirit, Plan and Purpose is alive in you...even when you may not readily see it.
Remember that you were born into this time to shine like a star! Be generous with your LIFE.
May God's Word renew, re-energize and re-purpose you.
Keep your eyes and heart open in the days ahead.
Pay attention to what God is saying to you at this time in your life.
Tune out the negative, corrupt voices of this confused culture we live in.
Live your life convicted in the knowledge of this unshakable truth...that God's Spirit, Plan and Purpose is alive in you...even when you may not readily see it.
Remember that you were born into this time to shine like a star! Be generous with your LIFE.
May God's Word renew, re-energize and re-purpose you.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Jesus still talks to us today!
Sunrise in Arizona
Psalm 19 “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the works of his hands.”
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Give to your local church!
God desires that we as Christ followers give our tithe to the local church. Wally and I are trying to teach Elliott and Max the importance of giving 10% to the local church for the purpose of building God's kingdom. Even when we want to hold onto the money to buy something we like (but don't need), we trust that God will provide all of our needs. God proved for his people over and over in the stories of the Old Testament. God cares about people when they are faced with economic hardship but he wants us to be faithful in our stewardship! - Malachi 3:10
Generosity does not depend on our being rich, but on our being willing to give what we have. Generosity reveals how much we really trust God.
Generosity does not depend on our being rich, but on our being willing to give what we have. Generosity reveals how much we really trust God.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
FInd Your Challenge
Numbers 13:30 - 30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.
Have you ever been challenged to do something that seemed impossible? Truthfully, I don't think most of us have. Our appetites for God have become small; therefore, we have stopped asking God to do the impossible through us. The story of Caleb reminds me that we need to ask God for mountains. God will give us those mountains and with God's help - we can certainly climb the mountains. It is in working to solve problems and overcome challenges that we become the people God wants us to be.
Our challenge today as Christ followers is to do the following:
Don't ask for comfort...
Don't ask for ease...
Don't ask for manageability...
Have you ever been challenged to do something that seemed impossible? Truthfully, I don't think most of us have. Our appetites for God have become small; therefore, we have stopped asking God to do the impossible through us. The story of Caleb reminds me that we need to ask God for mountains. God will give us those mountains and with God's help - we can certainly climb the mountains. It is in working to solve problems and overcome challenges that we become the people God wants us to be.
Our challenge today as Christ followers is to do the following:
Don't ask for comfort...
Don't ask for ease...
Don't ask for manageability...
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
CONSUMING FIRE
Hebrews 12:28-29
I love candles! I especially love Yankee Candles but can't always afford as many as I would like to have. The Christmas Cookie Yankee Candle is one of my favorites! There is a big difference between the flame of a candle and a roaring fire. Even with sophisticated fire-fighting equipment, a consuming fire is often beyond human control. God is not within our control either and he cannot be contained. When I think I have everything under control, God often whispers "You are not in control, I am." His whisper to me causes my heart to be filled with reverence and awe for my Lord and Savior.
I love candles! I especially love Yankee Candles but can't always afford as many as I would like to have. The Christmas Cookie Yankee Candle is one of my favorites! There is a big difference between the flame of a candle and a roaring fire. Even with sophisticated fire-fighting equipment, a consuming fire is often beyond human control. God is not within our control either and he cannot be contained. When I think I have everything under control, God often whispers "You are not in control, I am." His whisper to me causes my heart to be filled with reverence and awe for my Lord and Savior.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Favorite Halloween Jokes
Halloween was very fun for the boys. They now have more candy than they will ever eat! We would like to share some of our favorite Belated Halloween Jokes!
Why don't angry witches ride their brooms?
They're afraid of flying off the handle
Who won the skeleton beauty contest?
No body
What do skeletons say before they begin dining?
Bone appetit !
Where do baby ghosts go during the day?
Dayscare centers
Who did Frankenstein take to the prom?
His ghoul friend
Proverbs 14:12
By: Charles Swindoll
Solomon's life reminds me of the swing of a pendulum. Smooth and graceful . . . silent and elegant . . . yet periodically given to extremes.
Wisdom, loyalty, diplomacy, and efficiency marked his attitude and acts during the early years of his reign. Best of all, "Solomon loved the LORD" (1 Kings 3:3). His achievements could not be listed on ten pages this size. When visited by surrounding magistrates, he was viewed with awe. And rich? Multiplied millions annually. And creative? He was an architect, songwriter, artist, author, and inventor of unparalleled ability.
Things slowly began to change, however, as the pendulum began its tragic swing. Farther and farther . . . and farther.
Solomon seized the reins of wrong and drove his glistening chariot of gold onto the misty flats of licentiousness, pride, lust, profanity, and paganism. Silently, gradually, like eroding soil near the banks of a deep, angry river, he began to believe the lie that has captured many a top executive . . . or super salesperson . . . or successful physician . . . or athletic prima donna . . . or film star . . . or TV celebrity.
Materialism, polygamy, brutality, and idolatry now crippled his steps. Revolts fractured his nation, and irrational decisions characterized his rule. All to him became "vanity and striving after wind" (Eccles. 2:26). Nothing satisfied him any longer. The normal, God-given drives lost their appeal as deterioration took its final toll. And when death finally came, Solomon left in his wake a confused following and a broken, rebellious family.
Deterioration is never loud. Never obvious. Seldom even noticed. Like tiny cracks in a stucco wall, it hardly seems worth our time and attention. Never sudden.
Character threads don't "suddenly" snap. As the British expositor of yesteryear, F. B. Meyer, once put it, "No man suddenly becomes base."
Slowly, silently, subtly, things are tolerated that once were rejected. At the outset everything appears harmless, maybe even a bit exciting. But with it comes an "insignificant" wedge, a gap that grows wider as moral erosion joins hands with spiritual decay.
Be on guard! Those of us who stand must take heed lest we fall.
The pitfalls are still present. Still real. As unobtrusive as the ticking of a clock. As attractive as the swinging of a pendulum . . . until . . .
"There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." (Solomon, Prov. 14:12)
Solomon's life reminds me of the swing of a pendulum. Smooth and graceful . . . silent and elegant . . . yet periodically given to extremes.
Wisdom, loyalty, diplomacy, and efficiency marked his attitude and acts during the early years of his reign. Best of all, "Solomon loved the LORD" (1 Kings 3:3). His achievements could not be listed on ten pages this size. When visited by surrounding magistrates, he was viewed with awe. And rich? Multiplied millions annually. And creative? He was an architect, songwriter, artist, author, and inventor of unparalleled ability.
Things slowly began to change, however, as the pendulum began its tragic swing. Farther and farther . . . and farther.
Solomon seized the reins of wrong and drove his glistening chariot of gold onto the misty flats of licentiousness, pride, lust, profanity, and paganism. Silently, gradually, like eroding soil near the banks of a deep, angry river, he began to believe the lie that has captured many a top executive . . . or super salesperson . . . or successful physician . . . or athletic prima donna . . . or film star . . . or TV celebrity.
Materialism, polygamy, brutality, and idolatry now crippled his steps. Revolts fractured his nation, and irrational decisions characterized his rule. All to him became "vanity and striving after wind" (Eccles. 2:26). Nothing satisfied him any longer. The normal, God-given drives lost their appeal as deterioration took its final toll. And when death finally came, Solomon left in his wake a confused following and a broken, rebellious family.
Deterioration is never loud. Never obvious. Seldom even noticed. Like tiny cracks in a stucco wall, it hardly seems worth our time and attention. Never sudden.
Character threads don't "suddenly" snap. As the British expositor of yesteryear, F. B. Meyer, once put it, "No man suddenly becomes base."
Slowly, silently, subtly, things are tolerated that once were rejected. At the outset everything appears harmless, maybe even a bit exciting. But with it comes an "insignificant" wedge, a gap that grows wider as moral erosion joins hands with spiritual decay.
Be on guard! Those of us who stand must take heed lest we fall.
The pitfalls are still present. Still real. As unobtrusive as the ticking of a clock. As attractive as the swinging of a pendulum . . . until . . .
"There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." (Solomon, Prov. 14:12)
Monday, November 1, 2010
Silent Before God
Being Useless and Silent
Henri J. M. Nouwen
We need quiet time in the presence of God. Although we want to make all our time - time for God, we will never succeed if we do not reserve a minute, an hour, a morning, a day, a week, a month, or whatever period of time, for God and God alone.
This asks for much discipline and risk taking because we always seem to have something more urgent to do and "just sitting there" and "doing nothing" often disturbs us more than it helps. But there is no way around this. Being useless and silent in the presence of our God belongs to the core of all prayer.
In the beginning we often hear our own unruly inner noises more loudly than God's voice. This is at times very hard to tolerate. But slowly, very slowly, we discover that the silent time makes us quiet and deepens our awareness of ourselves and God.
Then, very soon, we start missing these moments when we are deprived of them, and before we are fully aware of it an inner momentum has developed that draws us more and more into silence and closer to that still point where God speaks to us.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
We need quiet time in the presence of God. Although we want to make all our time - time for God, we will never succeed if we do not reserve a minute, an hour, a morning, a day, a week, a month, or whatever period of time, for God and God alone.
This asks for much discipline and risk taking because we always seem to have something more urgent to do and "just sitting there" and "doing nothing" often disturbs us more than it helps. But there is no way around this. Being useless and silent in the presence of our God belongs to the core of all prayer.
In the beginning we often hear our own unruly inner noises more loudly than God's voice. This is at times very hard to tolerate. But slowly, very slowly, we discover that the silent time makes us quiet and deepens our awareness of ourselves and God.
Then, very soon, we start missing these moments when we are deprived of them, and before we are fully aware of it an inner momentum has developed that draws us more and more into silence and closer to that still point where God speaks to us.
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