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Showing posts from 2017

The Miracle of Discovering Your Ministry

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God, What do you want me to do? How do I fit? Are you like me? Do you want to serve God but cannot figure out your ministry? Have you tried to do many things but it falls apart? Are do you offer to serve in areas and never get called? Do you feel overlooked and underused? I have for most of my thirty years of my Christian walk. I know what I my talents are, and I even know my spiritual gifts. Still, I have a hard time discovering my specific ministry. It has been frustrating and depressing. I know whose I am and I have studied His Word. God draws me in and points out so many truths. I feel bursting, overflowing.... yet, in many ways I feel rejected by people... and dare I say even the church. I feel like serving in church is like being in a pinball machine. You step out to serve as the lever gets pulled back, the spring tightens and then in an instant you are launched into the activity. Only once you start moving you are constantly bumping into things and people. Some mo

What No One Ever Tells You About False Religions and False Teachers

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We have so many different kinds of religions, faiths, beliefs, and even within each of the major faiths there are so many variations. In this post I am not talking about the major religions of the world; I am not talking about the ones that most would attend on a regular Sunday or Saturday. But, I am writing about false religions like Scientology and so many other smaller organizations like these are based off of very similar beliefs. The major thing no one (especially the leader or organization itself) will never tell you is the leader often has a family background in the Christian faith. Many times their parents or grandparents were pastors or missionaries. Therefore, they frequently know the teachings of the Bible, and even use them, intermingling Biblical principles with their own but never quoting the Scripture or giving the source of the teaching. It is very crafty. Ask questions about leaders. Find out their spiritual background. Biblical principles are truth. They work

Pausing in the Summer - Being Silent

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Last year was my first year since homeschooling my children to teach full-time in public schools. Teaching is all consuming. But I want God to be all-consuming in my life. It took about a two weeks after teaching for my neck and back muscles to stop cramping from being tense. Being “on” for students and administration can be exhausting -- that is what my last, long post was about -- the full-time exhaustion I felt. Now that I have had time to breathe, I am open to God to show me what he wants me to do next. I am placing my life in His hands and giving Him control. When life (and responsibilities of work) start eating up my time, I struggle to find time for God. I wonder-- Do all people who work outside of the home full-time have this same problem? And I am so behind with housework. I have so much to clean, so much to go through, and so much to through or give away. Yet, God tugs on my heart, so... I opened the Bible this morning to Zephaniah 1:7 and read “Be silent in the

Full-Time Exhaustion Teaching

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Twenty-four hours are in every day. We each get the same amount of time. Yet, a comparison is meaningless because we are all very different in our personalities, needs, abilities, supports and resources. Still I like everyone else will make decisions how I will allot my time. Sleep is essential. If I allow myself to get overextended, over-committed or exhausted, I make poor decisions and I act or speak in ways that are not characteristic of who I naturally am. Working Full-time this past year at employment outside of the home is new for me. I have homeschooled my children for the past two decades. While undertaking the enormous responsibility of homeschool, I worked a few times as a tutor, substitute-teacher, writer or a retail position. Yet, I was mostly a full-time mom, wife and homeschool teacher. I had grown accustomed to waking to my natural body clock instead of a dreadful 4:45 am alarm. I also had the luxury--many luxuries--of sipping coffee slowly from a cup, eating when

Prayer Isn't Working

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When we are out of practice in prayer or just beginning, prayer just does not seem to work. Sure we can pray with others and send up short moment prayers but to be absorbed in the presence of God for extended periods of time takes come work on our part. We have to be still and allow our mind to clear as we focus upon God. But we also need to remember that if we have not entered His presence and truly anytime we are newly entering His presence we must follow the way Jesus taught His disciples. Begin with Reverence, Awe, Praise, Honor, acknowledging that we are coming before the Throne of the King of Kings and The Lord of Lords. We enter God's presence with praise, fear (awe/respect) and covered by the blood and name of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is done in spirit and truth, not flesh and deception. Our Father Who Art In Heaven = Recognize God, Who is in Heaven, Address our attention to Him. Hallowed Be They Name = Reverence Him, He is Hol

Who Is Responsible for Adultery?

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If a husband looks online or through apps for a relationship with another woman is this adultery, even if he has never had physical sex? In Matthew 5:28 Jesus says, “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  So how can a pastor counsel a woman, in this situation, that she is equally to be blamed for her husband’s actions and sin if she has not been having sex regularly with him. Where in the world would a pastor get this counsel. The Bible teaches in 1 Corinthians 7:5, “ Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, so that you may devote yourself to prayer. Then come again together, so that Satan will not tempt you through lack of self-control." This is not a guilt free license for a man or a woman to have an affair. This verse in the Bible assumes that the couple is spiritually sound and making mutual decisions and mature enough to devote themselves to time of prayer.

What Is God’s Joy (Isaiah 66:5)

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We have to be careful when reading Scripture that we don’t make one verse only answer to a question. Isaiah 66:5 speaks of joy--God’s joy that we may see. Let’s look to see what the Word is talking about: Hear the word of the LORD, You who tremble at His word; “Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for My name’s sake said, 'Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy,' But they shall be ashamed.” (Isaiah 66:5) These verses follow a listing that God makes of sacrifices that do not please him, because the people making the sacrifices did not have a relationship with Him. They went through the traditions of animal sacrifices, burnt offerings and incense, but in their daily life they were choosing their own way to live. God says in verse 3 that “their soul delights in their abominations”. Then he follows to say, “Because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not