I am learning French.
The funniest thing to me is I always said that would be the last language I wanted to learn. No particular reason, I just didn't care for the sound of it as much. Gaelic was my first choice, though that doesn't seem to be coming up any time soon unfortunately.
Because of the mission trip my husband and I will be taking in October, our group decided to get some of the basics of the French language down since that is the predominate language. When beginning to listen to the Lesson 1 of 30 CD, I was overwhelmed with the task of learning a whole new language. I felt as though my mouth had been shot full of Novocaine and stuffed full of marbles! However, at the end of the lesson, I could "understand: Je comprends " and say a few simple sentences. Yea! And I had only listened to it 5 times...
As the definition of each phrase was explained to me, I found it interesting that what was a bunch of noises a few moments ago now had meaning. I could hear it and now comprehend. Ah! That is so like the things of the Spirit!
13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 But the natural man does not welcome what comes from God's Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to know it since it is evaluated spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16 For:
who has known the Lord's mind,
that he may instruct Him?
But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:13-16
It's funny how we expect the world to act like they know Jesus Christ when there is no way they can truly understand without the help of the Spirit. It's really just a bunch of noise to them. It has no meaning. So our goal is not to make them behave in certain ways, but to introduce them to the best "language class" ever: Jesus Christ! Then as we learn together, our Tutor will teach us what to say.
11 Whenever they bring you before synagogues and rulers and authorities, don't worry about how you should defend yourselves or what you should say. 12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what must be said.
Luke 12:11-12
Showing posts with label Bible-Luke 12. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible-Luke 12. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Such A Beautiful Place
Yesterday we took Lauren and Elijah to see the 3D version of Avatar. It's a stunningly beautiful film whether you like the story line or not- which we did. Not only was it fun to see the kids be enthralled with 3D effects, but as the movie progressed, to watch them get involved in it.
About a third of the way through the film two of the main characters get to fly to a new location called the Halleluia mountain range on the alien world Pandora. It is a surprisingly, spectacular location since parts of the mountains actually float in the air. During the scene one of the people in response to the beauty says a curse word, and I heard Elijah say aloud to himself, "Why are they saying bad words in such a beautiful place?"
That pierced my heart.
Here I had been earlier that morning praising God for the beauty and majesty of His creation. What He has made beautiful for us in this world, and yet I take it so much for granted. We all do: With the words that we say, the impatience that we express, and the annoyance with which we pridefully snub what He has created for us to enjoy and take pleasure in.
Psalm 139:14
I will praise You, because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well.
The point isn't that everything seems beautiful all the time, but to see the beauty in all things at least some of the time. Was the movie Avatar a great, Godly movie? No. In fact, if anything it teaches to worship Mother Nature. But that doesn't mean that I can't see the beauty and value in portions of it. I learned a great lesson from God through my son even though that was not James Cameron's intent.
How are you treating the beauty around you? Have you seen it lately?
Luke 12:27-28
Consider how the wildflowers grow: they don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that's how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown in the furnace tomorrow, how much more will He do for you - you of little faith?
About a third of the way through the film two of the main characters get to fly to a new location called the Halleluia mountain range on the alien world Pandora. It is a surprisingly, spectacular location since parts of the mountains actually float in the air. During the scene one of the people in response to the beauty says a curse word, and I heard Elijah say aloud to himself, "Why are they saying bad words in such a beautiful place?"
That pierced my heart.
Here I had been earlier that morning praising God for the beauty and majesty of His creation. What He has made beautiful for us in this world, and yet I take it so much for granted. We all do: With the words that we say, the impatience that we express, and the annoyance with which we pridefully snub what He has created for us to enjoy and take pleasure in.
Psalm 139:14
I will praise You, because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well.
The point isn't that everything seems beautiful all the time, but to see the beauty in all things at least some of the time. Was the movie Avatar a great, Godly movie? No. In fact, if anything it teaches to worship Mother Nature. But that doesn't mean that I can't see the beauty and value in portions of it. I learned a great lesson from God through my son even though that was not James Cameron's intent.
How are you treating the beauty around you? Have you seen it lately?
Luke 12:27-28
Consider how the wildflowers grow: they don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that's how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown in the furnace tomorrow, how much more will He do for you - you of little faith?
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Spiderman and the Holy Spirit
Yes. There is a connection.
Recently I have been growing closer to the Lord. One of the great truths I have been spending time learning, is that we have the ability, through the Spirit of God, to do amazing things (John 14:12). The problem is that we don't ask for it with the right heart (James 4:3). God wants us to produce much fruit in His name! In John 14:13, Jesus says, "Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
There is just one little difficulty in this. It really ticks off Satan when we are living fully for the Lord and learning to become better disciples. He doesn't want us to have it too easy when we are producing much fruit, so he tries whatever tactics he can, to get to us. In fact he is so predictable in this, it is often one of the clues that I am pleasing the Lord.
This is when the verse comes to mind from Luke 12:48. "...Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more." If we ask God for greater empowerment through the Spirit, we need to understand that much will be required of us. That includes putting up with the tactics and antics of the Fallen One.
The funny thing is that every time I read Luke 12:48 I think of Spiderman. When Peter Parker is learning to cope with his new found spidey-skills, his uncle Ben tells him "With great power comes great responsibility." It becomes a sort of motto for him throughout his crime-fighting career. This is exactly what I feel like when asking the Father for the Spirit to empower me to do even greater works, to the glory of the Father through the Son. With them comes a great responsibility to honor the Lord and not myself in any way.
All the way through my sin-fighting career...
Recently I have been growing closer to the Lord. One of the great truths I have been spending time learning, is that we have the ability, through the Spirit of God, to do amazing things (John 14:12). The problem is that we don't ask for it with the right heart (James 4:3). God wants us to produce much fruit in His name! In John 14:13, Jesus says, "Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
There is just one little difficulty in this. It really ticks off Satan when we are living fully for the Lord and learning to become better disciples. He doesn't want us to have it too easy when we are producing much fruit, so he tries whatever tactics he can, to get to us. In fact he is so predictable in this, it is often one of the clues that I am pleasing the Lord.
This is when the verse comes to mind from Luke 12:48. "...Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more." If we ask God for greater empowerment through the Spirit, we need to understand that much will be required of us. That includes putting up with the tactics and antics of the Fallen One.
The funny thing is that every time I read Luke 12:48 I think of Spiderman. When Peter Parker is learning to cope with his new found spidey-skills, his uncle Ben tells him "With great power comes great responsibility." It becomes a sort of motto for him throughout his crime-fighting career. This is exactly what I feel like when asking the Father for the Spirit to empower me to do even greater works, to the glory of the Father through the Son. With them comes a great responsibility to honor the Lord and not myself in any way.
All the way through my sin-fighting career...
Monday, April 27, 2009
Lessons For Kids
This past Easter my kids looked forward most, of course, to finding Easter eggs. They usually start driving me crazy about them a week or two before the big day, and it doesn't end until I go psycho on each plastic half I find up to a week later.
When the day finally arrived, I knew they were chomping at the bit once lunch was over, so I made them stay in the living room while I went outside to hide the eggs. Now, I do have about an acre of land out back, but it is open field: One swing set, one tiny tree, a picnic table, and a fire pit. Not a lot of options to hide 30 florescent eggs. So I decided to be a little sneaky with a few.
As I said, it is open field and I'm not about to win any awards for a lush, green, weed-free lawn, so there are a few thistles growing around. I mow them flat, I just haven't removed all of them. I thought those poky little beds would make a great place to hide an egg or two.
As the kids came bolting out of the house like horses at the track, I realized a problem might arise...
They found the obvious ones and then started the hunt. They were neck in neck running through the yard so that if one was spotted they could beat the other there. Then, a thistle egg was spotted by Elijah. Lauren, being a woman in training, used her hips to bump him out of the way as she dashed past and lunged for the egg. Hee..hee...
What a great Deuteronomy 6:6-7 moment.
The Lord says we are to talk about Him and His commands as we go about our day to teach our children. So, as Lauren sucked on her pricked fingers, I talked about how greed can be destructive: Luke 12:15 "Watch out and be on guard against all greed because one's life is not in the abundance of his possessions." And how Jesus said in Matthew 19:30, "But many who are first will be last, and the last first." How we are to be kind to one another. Ephesians 4:32
Ask the Lord to help you teach not only your biological, but your spiritual children as everyday things pop up.
By the way, Elijah got the egg carefully as she was fussing! How much do we miss by being greedy and then fussing when we get pricked?
When the day finally arrived, I knew they were chomping at the bit once lunch was over, so I made them stay in the living room while I went outside to hide the eggs. Now, I do have about an acre of land out back, but it is open field: One swing set, one tiny tree, a picnic table, and a fire pit. Not a lot of options to hide 30 florescent eggs. So I decided to be a little sneaky with a few.
As I said, it is open field and I'm not about to win any awards for a lush, green, weed-free lawn, so there are a few thistles growing around. I mow them flat, I just haven't removed all of them. I thought those poky little beds would make a great place to hide an egg or two.
As the kids came bolting out of the house like horses at the track, I realized a problem might arise...
They found the obvious ones and then started the hunt. They were neck in neck running through the yard so that if one was spotted they could beat the other there. Then, a thistle egg was spotted by Elijah. Lauren, being a woman in training, used her hips to bump him out of the way as she dashed past and lunged for the egg. Hee..hee...
What a great Deuteronomy 6:6-7 moment.
The Lord says we are to talk about Him and His commands as we go about our day to teach our children. So, as Lauren sucked on her pricked fingers, I talked about how greed can be destructive: Luke 12:15 "Watch out and be on guard against all greed because one's life is not in the abundance of his possessions." And how Jesus said in Matthew 19:30, "But many who are first will be last, and the last first." How we are to be kind to one another. Ephesians 4:32
Ask the Lord to help you teach not only your biological, but your spiritual children as everyday things pop up.
By the way, Elijah got the egg carefully as she was fussing! How much do we miss by being greedy and then fussing when we get pricked?
Sunday, April 26, 2009
For Ladies Only
I don't plan on doing this very often, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about something that happened yesterday. And it is only for women's ears. ...or eyes, being this is written.
When trying on my swimsuit for the first time this season (you know how scary that can be), I was reminded of something Jesus said in Luke 12:48b. “Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more.” HCSB
Believe me, I had never thought of it in this way before, but as I was squeezing my chest into the bikini top, I realized I had the responsibility of how to handle the......um, endowment, with which the Lord has entrusted me. Now, praise be to my Creator that I have not been given too much in that area. Just enough to be annoying at times. But as Godly women, we have the responsibility to watch what we wear and how we display ourselves. Now, if you have much of a chest at all, you can't wear many of the cute little shirts so many others are wearing- so don't try. We are expected to make sure there is not too much valley showing between the “mountains of Bether”. (Song of Solomon 2:17 KJV)
My one failing point is in swim wear, and growing up in Daytona Beach was not very helpful. If the two piece covered the MAIN areas, that was good enough. Even to wear in the stores around. The second problem is tan lines. How do you not develop a tan line where it won't be obvious with different style clothing?
Well after today, trying to be modest while bending over to scrub the undercarriage of the van, I will be buying a new swimsuit. As for the tan lines? I think I'll try saving up some “modest money” for a little time at the tanning bed! After all, more is expected of us!
When trying on my swimsuit for the first time this season (you know how scary that can be), I was reminded of something Jesus said in Luke 12:48b. “Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more.” HCSB
Believe me, I had never thought of it in this way before, but as I was squeezing my chest into the bikini top, I realized I had the responsibility of how to handle the......um, endowment, with which the Lord has entrusted me. Now, praise be to my Creator that I have not been given too much in that area. Just enough to be annoying at times. But as Godly women, we have the responsibility to watch what we wear and how we display ourselves. Now, if you have much of a chest at all, you can't wear many of the cute little shirts so many others are wearing- so don't try. We are expected to make sure there is not too much valley showing between the “mountains of Bether”. (Song of Solomon 2:17 KJV)
My one failing point is in swim wear, and growing up in Daytona Beach was not very helpful. If the two piece covered the MAIN areas, that was good enough. Even to wear in the stores around. The second problem is tan lines. How do you not develop a tan line where it won't be obvious with different style clothing?
Well after today, trying to be modest while bending over to scrub the undercarriage of the van, I will be buying a new swimsuit. As for the tan lines? I think I'll try saving up some “modest money” for a little time at the tanning bed! After all, more is expected of us!
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