He's in the Whisper

Recently during one of our nightly devotionals we read the story of the prophet Elijah running from Jezebel. Elijah was afraid for his life. He began to doubt that the Lord would help him, even though He had been helping him. He lost faith.  An angel came to him and fed him to where he had strength to go on, but after 40 days God, himself, spoke to Elijah! That was unusual for God to speak directly to someone!

And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:11-13 

God told Elijah where to go.  God passed by in a great and strong wind, in an earthquake, and in a fire, but He was not IN those wonders.  He came in a low whisper.  A whisper!

I love, love, love this imagery, do you?

Think of yourself as Elijah. When the wind came, how would you have responded?  When the earthquake came, how would you have responded?  What about the fire?  I imagine I would have been okay in the strong wind. We see strong winds in tornadoes.  But an earthquake? A fire? Those things frighten me!  But a low whisper?  That would be odd, maybe, but not scary I don't think.  Not after God had helped me through other big things.

When I think of my life, I often only really request help from God in the big things, but maybe He is saying to me..."I'm in the low whispers".  "Listen to me in the quiet times."  "Don't neglect those times!"

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 

(read all of chapter 46. It goes well with this thought.)

HIM vs. YOU

Moms....pay attention to what you believe. There are many popular things you can see and read as a Christian woman that may or may not be in accordance with God’s word. The Bible never teaches that this world is about you. God loves you and cares about you. He wants you to love Him, obey Him, and serve Him.

There's a popular trend now, made even more popular by some recent publications, that YOU are in charge of your destiny. That only YOU can change your life.  Be careful! There's nothing scriptural about that belief!  Nothing in scripture says you are in charge, despite what might be shouted out in the world's view.

Your life and how you live your life should be for HIS GLORY, not for YOURS. It’s not for your happiness, contrary to what you may read apart from scripture. God wants you to be HOLY.  In becoming holy, you'll find true happiness....which is joy! Joy is something that can't fade with problems, trials, struggles in life.  Happiness comes and goes. Joe remains....or should.

Check what you read with God’s word. Don’t believe it because it’s popular and it’s trending on social media. Women often allow their feelings to dictate their beliefs, which can lead down untrue paths. Don’t be one of those women.

God loves you! He wants you to love you, but He also wants you to love HIM and rely on HIM, not yourself.  And self help done should be for His glory, not your own.

First Love - A Life Pleasing to God

If you pay attention closely, you can tell what is someone’s first love. 

If, for a Christian, his/her first love is God, Christ, His church....it will be evident by what shows in his/her life. If it is not God, Christ, the church....it will be blaring and screaming something else. 

Priorities are evident if we pay attention.

If I were to ask someone what was most important in my life, if I'm honest, sometimes it might look like things other than God, Christ, and the church were most important.  Social media isn't always an appropriate "judge" of what's most important in someone's life, but on the other hand....that's what we put out for others to see.  Yes, our close family and friends and acquaintances can see other examples, as well, but so much of our true life is hidden.  That's okay.  the Bible tells us to live quiet lives. 

It's appropriate that the passage below is under the heading, "A Life Pleasing to God".  

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.


9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10 for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

This is my desire, so I should make it a goal to evaluate and judge my life by this standard in God's Word.  May my first love be what God desires for it to be.  

R-E-S-P-E-C-T GOD

This was a recent post on our parent's page: 
Never make light of spiritual matters. Your children are watching how you respect God, Jesus, the church, as well as your attitude towards sin, worship, grace, mercy, and on and on. Making light of something that’s of spiritual importance isn’t sharing the gospel message with others. Jesus died on the cross for those things and because of those things. That’s nothing to take lightly.

Nothing makes me sadder than to see spiritual times and spiritual matters become a time of entertainment or in fun.  It doesn't really matter what I feel about it or what you might feel about it, though. What matters is what God feels...what Jesus feels....what we might make others feel about it.  The thought of hurting my Lord and my Savior brings tears to my eyes, does it yours?  I think of the song, "Does He Still Feel the Nails". Am I crucifying him all over again if I am not having the reverence I should during worship?  God's grace and mercy is sufficient. He's loving and will forgive me, of course, but what about when I deliberately continue to fail in this area, never realizing it's sin?  That's a scary thought that I don't take lightly.

As a parent, I pray that I've taught and trained my children to revere the name of the Lord....to not trample on Christ's death on the cross...and that they will never deliberately "make Him feel the nails".

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,  for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 11:28-29 (read all of chapter 11 to see what "Therefore" is THERE FOR).

An Attempt to Begin Again

My blog posts are sporadic, I know, but this is an attempt to begin blogging again consistently.  For now, I'm scheduling several, just because I know I won't follow through with daily posts if I don't.  It's not that I don't want to blog....in fact, I miss it in a lot of ways.  I also know that I've missed blogging a LOT of family things that I will regret someday because it's hard to go back and do past things. I may try to, but for now, I'll start with now.

Have a great day! It's cold here, so hopefully it will result in beautiful fall trees. That's always what I wish for :).