Sunday, November 30, 2008
A Journey of Obedience...
Well, I'd like to invite you to serve as a witness to the wonderful works of our Great and Mighty God. By His design, I am on a journey of obedience. These writings will serve more as an online journal. May you observe His tremendous faithfulness as I share of His grace to me - a sinner - yet His child...
Friday, November 14, 2008
What Awesome Responsibility!
I am so grateful that what the Lord directs, He empowers! For years, I lived intimidated by the Proverbs 31 woman... "capable, intelligent and virtuous". Who was she? What did she look like? For "she is far more precious than jewels and her value is far above rubies or pearls." O Lord, how do I become her? Please make me her!
The Lord loves a request like that! I am convinced, by experience, that He is willing to turn worlds upside down - for the better - when we come to the place of letting go! It is His pleasure to teach us and transform us. I think often times He's just waiting for me to stop telling Him how to do it! He renews our minds as we spend time in His Word. He sends wise counsel to help us walk in the Truth. And He gives power to take a leap of faith and follow it up with one baby step after another! Proverbs 4:11-12 says, "I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble."
Do you know what virtuous means? I was reading Proverbs 12 in the Amplified Bible and when I got to verse 4, it said, "A virtuous and worthy wife [earnest and strong in character] is a crowning joy to her husband, but she who makes him ashamed is as rottenness in his bones." I commented to the Lord that I didn't really know what virtuous meant but I proceeded to think "well, I guess it means earnest and strong in character" and kept going... The Lord stopped me in my tracks! "You just told Me that you didn't know what virtuous means! Aren't you even going to stop and look?"
The word translated here as virtuous is the Hebrew word "chayil". It means a force of means or other resources, strength or power applied (for good in all 3 cases where it is translated "virtuous" in the OT: Ruth 3:11, Proverbs 12:4 and Proverbs 31:10). It comes from the root word "chuwl" which can mean to cause to dance OR writhe in pain, to bring forth OR fall grieviously, to be born OR to wound painfully. Wheww! As wives, we have such HUGE responsibility! We can cause our husbands to dance with joy or wound them painfully! We can be used of God to birth and bring forth tremendous renewal in them or we can cause them to fall grieviously! In other passages, this same word is used as a military term, such as when speaking of Gideon in Judges 6:12.
Lord, may I use all of my resources, applied for good, to bless my husband. May I go to war for him in prayer. May I comfort him and make our home comfortable. May I be his number 1 cheerleader and encourage him every day. Help me to rise while it is yet night and get spiritual food for my household. May I serve him as unto You. May I gird myself with strength, spirituall, mentally and physically for this God-given task. Lord, You have poured out Your favor upon our home and I praise You! May I be a crowning joy to my husband and may he dance with joy! In Your strength and Your power, Amen.
The Lord loves a request like that! I am convinced, by experience, that He is willing to turn worlds upside down - for the better - when we come to the place of letting go! It is His pleasure to teach us and transform us. I think often times He's just waiting for me to stop telling Him how to do it! He renews our minds as we spend time in His Word. He sends wise counsel to help us walk in the Truth. And He gives power to take a leap of faith and follow it up with one baby step after another! Proverbs 4:11-12 says, "I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble."
Do you know what virtuous means? I was reading Proverbs 12 in the Amplified Bible and when I got to verse 4, it said, "A virtuous and worthy wife [earnest and strong in character] is a crowning joy to her husband, but she who makes him ashamed is as rottenness in his bones." I commented to the Lord that I didn't really know what virtuous meant but I proceeded to think "well, I guess it means earnest and strong in character" and kept going... The Lord stopped me in my tracks! "You just told Me that you didn't know what virtuous means! Aren't you even going to stop and look?"
The word translated here as virtuous is the Hebrew word "chayil". It means a force of means or other resources, strength or power applied (for good in all 3 cases where it is translated "virtuous" in the OT: Ruth 3:11, Proverbs 12:4 and Proverbs 31:10). It comes from the root word "chuwl" which can mean to cause to dance OR writhe in pain, to bring forth OR fall grieviously, to be born OR to wound painfully. Wheww! As wives, we have such HUGE responsibility! We can cause our husbands to dance with joy or wound them painfully! We can be used of God to birth and bring forth tremendous renewal in them or we can cause them to fall grieviously! In other passages, this same word is used as a military term, such as when speaking of Gideon in Judges 6:12.
Lord, may I use all of my resources, applied for good, to bless my husband. May I go to war for him in prayer. May I comfort him and make our home comfortable. May I be his number 1 cheerleader and encourage him every day. Help me to rise while it is yet night and get spiritual food for my household. May I serve him as unto You. May I gird myself with strength, spirituall, mentally and physically for this God-given task. Lord, You have poured out Your favor upon our home and I praise You! May I be a crowning joy to my husband and may he dance with joy! In Your strength and Your power, Amen.
Friday, November 7, 2008
From the Mouths of Babes...
Have you ever felt like you're all alone in the battle? Like no one knows what you're dealing with? What mountains the Lord is asking you to climb? May I speak a word of encouragement to you today! I am completely in awe of the magnitude and grace of our God!
This morning, while driving my children to school, we saw a young woman on the sidewalk whose actions prompted a conversation in the van. The issue that prompted the discussion is not important but what came out of my son's mouth blew me away! He said, "Mommy, could we pray for *Theresa, that she would be able to stop doing what that girl is doing?" Now, if the comment had come from my daughter, I would have been blessed but I'm sure that I would have missed it for the huge God-thing that it was. The fact that my son thought of Theresa and wanted to pray for her to be free from this could only have been a prompting of the Holy Spirit. I answered, "for sure!" and we proceeded to pray.
After I dropped the kids off, I was still marvelling that my son would call us to prayer for this and I wondered what might be going on in Theresa's life today that the Lord would bring this issue to the forefront. I called her and told her what had happened. I hoped that it would bless her to know that someone was thinking of her that day but I also hoped that she wouldn't be offended by the focus of the prayer. She seemed glad to hear from me but didn't say too much. Not long later, she sent me a message...
That very morning, she had just been talking to the Lord and asking Him for strength to deal with that exact issue! Praise His Name! Not only does the Lord want to say to you that He is strong enough to take you over the mountains in your life but He's also able to raise up an army of warriors to pray you over to the other side! Nothing limits Him! He even speaks to 10 year old boys and transforms them into mighty warriors for the Kingdom! I can't wait to tell my son!!
*name changed
This morning, while driving my children to school, we saw a young woman on the sidewalk whose actions prompted a conversation in the van. The issue that prompted the discussion is not important but what came out of my son's mouth blew me away! He said, "Mommy, could we pray for *Theresa, that she would be able to stop doing what that girl is doing?" Now, if the comment had come from my daughter, I would have been blessed but I'm sure that I would have missed it for the huge God-thing that it was. The fact that my son thought of Theresa and wanted to pray for her to be free from this could only have been a prompting of the Holy Spirit. I answered, "for sure!" and we proceeded to pray.
After I dropped the kids off, I was still marvelling that my son would call us to prayer for this and I wondered what might be going on in Theresa's life today that the Lord would bring this issue to the forefront. I called her and told her what had happened. I hoped that it would bless her to know that someone was thinking of her that day but I also hoped that she wouldn't be offended by the focus of the prayer. She seemed glad to hear from me but didn't say too much. Not long later, she sent me a message...
That very morning, she had just been talking to the Lord and asking Him for strength to deal with that exact issue! Praise His Name! Not only does the Lord want to say to you that He is strong enough to take you over the mountains in your life but He's also able to raise up an army of warriors to pray you over to the other side! Nothing limits Him! He even speaks to 10 year old boys and transforms them into mighty warriors for the Kingdom! I can't wait to tell my son!!
*name changed
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