Girls in love with Abba, sharing His Word and works to His glory and the reknown of His name! Let the nations praise Him! "for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard. " Acts 4:20
Why We Blog...
This blog is born because we, who have been with Christ, cannot contain our joy and excitement as we know Him more and hear His voice. We must share with each other what He is saying and doing! So this blog is created to connect the Body of Christ and to bring glory to His name. This is a place to share scripture, words of encouragement to the Body, stories of God's work in your life, hymns and spiritual songs, as well as, testimonies of what God is teaching you through time with Him and prayer requests. Please share only what will encourage, unify, and spur us on to fullness in Christ. Be mindful that almost anyone may read this. We pray this will be a tool that brings God glory, unifies His children, and is a light in the darkness. If you'd like to be an auther, email Michelle. Otherwise, follow and be sure to comment!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Esther Study - I figured out how to post!
I am terrible! I can figure the blog out one minute and the next I can't! So, I'll put it on this page if that's ok. Someone feel free to transfer to blog. Esther is amazing. We are into Chp. 5 now. In a nutshell these are the things we have been learning and some bullet points that stood out to me. The best part, it seemed like someone in the room (if not all in some way) needed to hear the message of the week. God truly is faithful and He never ceases to amaze me. "Lord I'm amazed by you,....." sorry broke off in song :)*He not only desires to teach you but to transform you.*God works out everything, nothing can happen to my by coincidence.*God has a destiny for me! I can't amputate my history from my destiny! It's are past that makes us who we are today ladies and as scarred as it may or may not be, He deserves to be glorified through our lives! YOUR STORY MATTERS*In God our past and future share the same root!*One of the most important parts in fulfilling our destiny will be transparency.*Those of us who know Jesus personally live under divine rule where all of us get to be princesses. The crimson bloodline of Christ flows through your veins. Not only are we royalty but we also have been placed in our sphere of influence, regardless of the size you perceive it to be, "for such a time as this".*Are we standing my our sisters? We should be working together not competing.*We need more than a mood, we need a mind-set.*He never takes His eyes off of us or off the clock ticking over us.*Many times it takes a crisis to cause us to pivot on our heel and change directions. God will work it out "in us", "through us" and "around us". And God's time is prime time even if I am in the middle of a crisis.*As painful as it may be, that which shatters the superficial also shatters the fetters of fragility and frees us to walk with dignity and might to our destinies. Are we warrior princesses of God.*To stand by and do nothing out of self preservation is to be dead already. None of our purposes will be fulfilled easily.*Our defining moment - sometimes our most important moments come hand-in-hand with our willingness to reveal that we aren't really who we've seemed to be.*It's not enough to have conditional faith, don't just trust God that it won't happen but just trust God!!*When we feel most along, sometimes God's hand is so close that it covers the eyes!*God isn't interested in our stellar performance but in out hearts. He loves our willingness and obedience despite our insecurities.*God's purpose in calling us to deny ourselves is that we would deny our selfishness, ambition, pasts, or any damaged emotions the right to cheat us of His far higher plans for us!*We can serve from our knees on this earth b/c we're seated with the King in heaven.WOW, aren't you sorry you asked :) Just kidding. I hope these nuggets are useful to someone. I love this study. - Mary
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Moms in Touch
Kathy and I are starting a Moms in Touch group for our kids' elementary school. Our first prayer time is tomorrow at 1:30.
Check out www.momsintouch.org for more information.
I'm excited to see the amazing power of God at work in the children and faculty of the school and can't wait to hear answered prayers week after week!! Please pray for a great response of moms and for high participation. Our children's school has a really high middle eastern population and I so hope our gathering of Christian women will create a christian influence for our children's lives.
~ Jen
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
PHILEMON - LAVISH FORGIVENESS
Wow friends,
Last week while I was at bible study with Madeline, I realized that there is a book of the bible called Philemon that I don't think I'd ever read. It's a one chapter book located between Titus and Hebrews. So today I decided to check it out. Wow, this was an awesome little study! I'm going to try to break down for you what I got out of it but I hope you'll go read it for yourself and see what the Lord reveals to you!
Here is the story, restated in my own words:
Philemon was a wealthy Christian who held house church in his home. He was devoted to Christ. He had slaves (as was common in that day) and one of his slaves names was Onesimus. Onesimus ran away from Philemon's home. The punishment for runaway slaves was severe.
At that time, Paul was in prison in Rome and Onesimus somehow hooked up with him there. Onesimus became very dear to Paul and Paul was burdened to facilitate the reconciliation of the relationship between Philemon and his slave, Onesimus. He understood the need that both men had for reconciliation with each other!
Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon with a letter that Paul had written (which is the book of the bible called Philemon). In the letter, Paul appealed to Philemon to accept Onesimus back into his home. And Paul implored Philemon to accept Onesimus back, not as a slave but as a dear brother in Christ. Paul asked Philemon to offer lavish forgiveness to Onesimus. And Paul offered to repay anything that Onesimus owed to Philemon.
Here are the parallels that I see:
Paul ~ Jesus
Onesimus ~ Me
Philemon ~ God
When I replaced the actual characters with the parallel characters, the story reads (to me) something like this:
In my life, I was a "slave" to God and He treated me well. But I ran away from Him. The punishment due for my running away was severe. But while I was far away from God, I came to know Jesus. I developed a sweet relationship with Jesus and He began to consider me His dear sister. He realized that without reconciliation, I would remain distant from God. And that God, because of His holiness and His desire to be my provider, sustainer, protection, would remain separated from me and even angry with me. So Jesus (wisely) sent me back to seek forgiveness from God. He knew that I had to make my relationship with God right, for my well being. And that God longed to be reconciled with me again too!!
Jesus sent me back to God with a letter, imploring God to offer lavish forgiveness to me and to accept me back, not as a slave (as I was formerly) but as a dear friend, into His kingdom. And Jesus then offered to repay any wrong I had done to God and anything I had stolen from Him.
Here is Jesus' letter to God:
I AM SENDING (JEN) - WHO IS MY VERY HEART - BACK TO YOU. I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO KEEP (HER) WITH ME SO THAT (SHE) COULD TAKE (HER) PLACE IN HELPING ME. BUT I DID NOT WANT TO DO ANYTHING WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT, SO THAT ANY FAVOR YOU DO WILL BE SPONTANEOUS AND NOT FORCED. PERHAPS THE REASON (SHE) WAS SEPARATED FROM YOU FOR A LITTLE WHILE WAS THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE (HER) BACK FOR GOOD - NO LONGER AS A SLAVE BUT BETTER THAN A SLAVE, AS A DEAR (SISTER). (SHE) IS DEAR TO ME BUT EVEN DEARER TO YOU, BOTH AS A (WOMAN) AND AS A (SISTER). SO IF YOU CONSIDER ME A PARTNER, WELCOME (HER) HOME AS YOU WOULD ME. IF (SHE) HAS DONE YOU ANY WRONG OR OWES YOU ANYTHING, CHARGE IT TO ME.
~ JESUS
I hope this touches you as it has me.
My prayer is that God would make me an instrument used to reconcile the "runaways" to Him. Father, give me a heart that cares and grieves for those who have run away from you and help me to point them back to you. I can relate, as a fellow run away, and I can share my story of reconciliation with others. I appeal to you to lavishly forgive them, just as you forgave me. Thank you for accepting this runaway slave back and offering me a new position of honor and a caring fulfilling relationship with you!!
Love, Jen
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