Wednesday SHINE....
Today's Reading: Matthew 3
Happy Worship Wednesday, SHINE girls!
Wanna know why I love having a theme for each day of the week? It motivates me and gives me a purpose.
For so long, I lived day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, without purpose. My days were filled with "stuff", but no real purpose.
Can you relate?
Now, I want purpose in my days. I want to live intentional for Jesus! I want to be pushed to be the best daughter of the Father that I can be!
A couple of nights ago, I was very saddened by some news. It was devastating, and my heart was broken into pieces over this news. It involved the death of someone that we knew.
I cried, and cried, and cried. I talked out loud to God and asked Him: "Why, Lord, Why?? I don't understand. Please help me to understand."
The Lord kept prompting me to pray. Read His Word, and pray.
So, I did.
I started to feel better and have a sense of calm.
Soon after, I lay my head on my big fluffy white pillow. However, the Lord was prompting me to do something else.
An image of a devotion that I almost gave away that day, popped into my head. I was packing up books earlier that day and I almost put it in the bag to give away. Something stopped me. (we all know WHO that was!)
I opened up my bedside drawer and saw the devotional.
Slowly, I turned to the date for that day.
Here's the first sentence: "In your spiritual life, you are either aggressively moving forward or slipping backward. Either you grow, or you start to die. There is no such thing as dormant Christianity. It is vital and essential to keep pressing on."
Oh, girls. It was like the Holy Spirit had just poured fresh spring water over my head after a day in the desert.
This loss that we had just learned about, this economy that is falling apart, the hatred we see spewing all over the place from loved ones very close to us, this world that grows dimmer by the minute....it is all just too much. Too much.
However, God was whispering to me to press on. The Lord knows me well enough to know that I have a tendency to get stuck. I have a hard time moving on when my emotions, my feelings, get the best of me. Only by pressing on with Him, am I able to get back up off my bottom, wipe away the tears, and keep moving.
Girls, we must be sure we are growing. We must be sure we are moving aggressively towards Him. This world wants to suck you up in that great big vacuum and never let you out.
We must be intentional. We must grow.
So, sounds good right? But, how do we do this?
Happy Worship Wednesday, SHINE girls!
Wanna know why I love having a theme for each day of the week? It motivates me and gives me a purpose.
For so long, I lived day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, without purpose. My days were filled with "stuff", but no real purpose.
Can you relate?
Now, I want purpose in my days. I want to live intentional for Jesus! I want to be pushed to be the best daughter of the Father that I can be!
A couple of nights ago, I was very saddened by some news. It was devastating, and my heart was broken into pieces over this news. It involved the death of someone that we knew.
I cried, and cried, and cried. I talked out loud to God and asked Him: "Why, Lord, Why?? I don't understand. Please help me to understand."
The Lord kept prompting me to pray. Read His Word, and pray.
So, I did.
I started to feel better and have a sense of calm.
Soon after, I lay my head on my big fluffy white pillow. However, the Lord was prompting me to do something else.
An image of a devotion that I almost gave away that day, popped into my head. I was packing up books earlier that day and I almost put it in the bag to give away. Something stopped me. (we all know WHO that was!)
I opened up my bedside drawer and saw the devotional.
Slowly, I turned to the date for that day.
Here's the first sentence: "In your spiritual life, you are either aggressively moving forward or slipping backward. Either you grow, or you start to die. There is no such thing as dormant Christianity. It is vital and essential to keep pressing on."
Oh, girls. It was like the Holy Spirit had just poured fresh spring water over my head after a day in the desert.
This loss that we had just learned about, this economy that is falling apart, the hatred we see spewing all over the place from loved ones very close to us, this world that grows dimmer by the minute....it is all just too much. Too much.
However, God was whispering to me to press on. The Lord knows me well enough to know that I have a tendency to get stuck. I have a hard time moving on when my emotions, my feelings, get the best of me. Only by pressing on with Him, am I able to get back up off my bottom, wipe away the tears, and keep moving.
Girls, we must be sure we are growing. We must be sure we are moving aggressively towards Him. This world wants to suck you up in that great big vacuum and never let you out.
We must be intentional. We must grow.
So, sounds good right? But, how do we do this?
- Pray
- Read His Word
- Pray for a mentor (a wise one!)
- Find a church family and get plugged in
- Walk in Love--every.single.day
- Get rid of distractions that keep you "busy", but not growing. (pray about this one, girls. it's a biggie!)
- Find gaps in your conduct, your behavior towards others, your mannerisms that need tuning up.
- Pray for godly friends. Let me repeat this one: Pray for godly friends. The wrong friends can stifle our growth, girls. You know it's true.
- Pray for someone who has recently hurt you. Pray until you want to vomit. I'm serious. Nothing grows us closer to Him than praying for the unlovables in our lives. Nothing.
- Speak less, listen more. Let me repeat: Speak less, listen more. No explanation needed.
- Assume the best, not the worst of others. Not just sometimes, but every single time.
- Have a running list in your head of what you are thankful for. This keeps the enemy out of your head and negative thoughts at bay.
- Quit thinking of yourself and instead think of how you can encourage someone else today. Someone in your life needs it badly.
- When someone hurts you, slanders you, or curses you: bless them. (not sarcastically either.) Don't breathe a word of their hurt towards you to anyone else. If you must speak to someone, make it a safe person. A wise person. The best person to take it to is the Father. He is always listening.
- Be careful when giving advice to others. Girls, the Bible clearly teaches us that we will be held accountable for every word spoken. (Matthew 12:36) Whoa. This very reason is why we must know His Word. Our advice must be biblically sound. So, if you are not sure what to say, don't speak.
Let's never be dormant, girls. Let's fan the flames of the Holy Spirit living inside of us daily! Dormancy should not even be in our vocabulary. We were made to grow!
"This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you."
2 Timothy 1:6
Girls, if we don't have purpose in our days, if we are not growing closer to Him...then what's the point?
fanning the flames,
jill
