Sunlight

This morning as my husband was reading his Bible I decided to take a shower. I love that our bathroom has at least a small window to bring in the sunlight even though it wasn't much on this cold, gray day, so I had the light turned on. After jumping into the warm water, I closed my eyes tightly to scrub my face and then rinsed off. When my eyes opened back up, I jumped- the shower was bright white! It took me a second to realize the sun was actually shining straight in the window and hitting our white shower curtains,  illuminating them amazingly. Laughing, I realized just how dark it had been in there earlier, but had never noticed. Within a few moments, the sun was gone once again and we were back to a cloudy day. Funny how much darker it seemed to me, and that I didn't remembered how deeply I longed for it till I saw it shine...

After coming out of the shower, Kevin told me that while reading in the Psalms, a sudden beam of sunlight came just as he was reading a promise God had made to His people. He loved that God was backing that promise up and comforting him through the sunbeam which broke through at just the right moment.

Isn't our God amazing how He can use a ray of sunlight, which started over eight minutes before and traveled 93,000,000 miles to peak through a break in some thickly condensed evaporated water to comfort Kevin with a promise, and remind me how dark this life would be without His presence?

What promise is He comforting you with today through the glory of His creation?

From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, 

His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood 

through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 

Romans 1:20

Who can you share the light of Jesus Christ with today- Someone who has never realized just how "bright" He can be?

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, 

but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

Living By Faith

Have you ever really had to live by faith?

Perhaps you gave away all your grocery money on a prompting from the Spirit, or followed a path God set before you that you knew was an impossibility in your own strength. To passionately live on faith alone in a circumstance forces you to the best place possible: Humbled before God in fervent prayer. When we live by faith there is no possible explanation or reason other than, "It's God".

It is an humanly terrifying and spiritually exhilarating place to be. It's where we are suppose to be.


For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
Romans 1:16-17


But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back,     My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and obtain life.

Hebrews 10:37-38

That Thang That You Do

Why?

That is the #1 question in our house.
Truthfully, it's always been my number one. I want to know why.
It has helped me to understand my youngest. When I/he ask why we should do something we are told, it's not out of a challenge of authority. We just want to understand the principle behind the matter so that the best course of action can be accomplished both now, and in the future without having to be told again. (Well, I doubt the 7 year old has thought it out that far yet, but I have.)

So when I ask, "Why study/read the Bible?" I need more than the "Because you're suppose to" answer. Is it the best course of action? If so, which is the best method? When are the best times? And so on and so forth... Why? is the smallest question one can ask, which essentially asks it all.

There is actually one other question you need to answer - completely honestly - first: "What is your main objective in life?"

What were the first two or three things that popped in your head? Most likely, though we hate to admit it, one of them is your main goal. The honesty comes in realizing that. So now we can ask, "Why should I read/study the Bible?"

Were your main objectives raising your children, to provide a good home for your family, to make something of yourself, or to learn all you can? Well, then the Bible can help- but not like you think it will. The principles in the Bible are great because they were written by the Creator of everything. He knows how things work best. If that is the only, or main, reason for you to read the Bible, you might as well place it on the shelf with every other self help for dummies book. The Bible was not intended to just help with your goals.

As a Christ follower, our main, #1 purpose in life should be to glorify God. This perfect umbrella covers the spreading of the Gospel, worship, serving Him, learning His Word, listening to the Spirit, humbling ourselves, and any other Christian principle you could think of as a Sunday School answer. And yes, it even applies to raising our children, providing for our family, and making something of ourselves. The only difference is that it comes from the viewpoint of God's eternal kingdom instead of a few decades on this current earth. When I think of it that way, am I so selfish as to only want to provide good for those I know and love for a few years? Or am I concerned with their eternal state?

So, I ask again...."Why?"

 ²⁰ From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. ²¹ For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
    ²⁴ Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 1:20-25

To ____ Be The Glory

To whom or what have you given the most glory lately? The "church" answer is, of course, God - as it should be.

Prove it.

Take the next five minutes and list the ways you have glorified Yahweh or Jesus Christ. And be honest. He knows your heart. If your not sure of your own true intentions, ask the Spirit to reveal it to you. Psalm 139:23

Dear Father, let this never be said of me...  "For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened." Romans 1:21