The Importance of the Bible... Part 2

I really enjoyed my Psalm 119 study and I thought I would get through a few more sections at a time and continue to post them. 

If you did not read my 'The Importance of the Bible and How It Applies To You Part 1' you can click here to read it. It explains how I did my Psalm 119 study in case you would like to try it yourself.


Psalm 119: 17-24 "Do good to Your servant, and I will live; I will obey Your Word. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law. I am a stranger on earth; do not hide Your commands from me. My soul is consumed with longing for Your laws at all times. You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed and who stray from Your commands. Remove from me scorn and contempt, for I keep Your statutes. Though rulers sit together and slander me, Your servant will meditate on Your decrees. Your statues are my delight, they are my counselors."


Questions: None


Cross References: 

• 2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

• Proverbs 30:5-6 "Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar."

• Jeremiah 15:16 "When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear Your name, O Lord God Almighty."

God's Word is...: wonderful, to be longed for, my delight

God's Word does...: wonderful things, removes me from my scorn and contempt, is my counselor

My Responsibility to God's Word: to obey it, my soul should be consumed with longing for God's law at all times, keep statutes (laws), meditate on His decrees (orders)






Psalm 119:25-32 "I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to Your Word. I recounted my ways and You answered me; teach me Your decrees. Let me understand the teaching of Your precepts; then I will meditate on Your wonders. My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to Your Word. Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through Your law. I have chosen the way of truth; I have set My heart on Your laws. I hold fast to Your statues, O Lord; do not let me be put to shame. I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free."


Questions: How can I be sure the Lord keeps me from deceitful ways?


Cross References: 

• Psalm 43:1 "Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation. Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked."

• Proverbs 14:8 "The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception."

• Ephesians 5:5-6 "For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person - such a person is an idolater - has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient."

• Matthew 11:23 "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

God's Word is...: strength to my weary soul, gracious to me, the way of truth, something that sets my heart free


God's Word does...: preserves my life, answers me, teaches me, keeps me from deceitful ways


My responsibility to God's Word: recount my ways (self-examine my decisions/behaviors/choices), learn the decrees (orders), meditate on its wonders, choose the way of Truth, set my heart on God's laws, hold fast to Your statutes Lord, run in the path of God's commands

Psalm 119:33-40 "Teach me, O Lord, to follow Your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep Your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of Your commands, for these I find delight. Turn my heart toward Your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to Your Word. Fulfill Your promise to Your servant, so that You may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread. For Your laws are good. How I long for Your precepts! Preserve my life in Your righteousness."


Questions: How do I make sure my motives for things are not selfish and how do I turn my eyes away from worthless things?


Cross References: 

• Matthew 16:26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"

• Philippians 1:21 "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

• 1 Timothy 6:3-12 "If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith of their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay  hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

God's Word is/does...: a path of God's commands, life preserving, good, where I will find delight


My responsibility to God's Word: follow the Lord's decrees, learn from God how to follow His decrees, keep and obey His law with all my heart, turn toward God's statutes and not towards selfish gain, not care about worthless things of this world, but have my life preserved by Him according to His Word, long for His precepts

Reaction to Joy Behar on Abortion (mature content)

NewsBusters provides the transcript from The View:

JOY BEHAR: There’s a couple of bills pending in Virginia. One of them is that women will be required to undergo sonograms, ultrasound when they are about to have an abortion and the other one is that if a heartbeat isn’t detected, then they will get a trans-vaginal ultrasound which is basically going into the vagina and very intrusive. Now, there is no — as far as I can tell there is no other Procedure including MRIs and cancer treatments that are mandated. This is- would be a mandated treatment for girls who are pregnant to see the child, the infant, the fetus-

BARBARA WALTERS: The fetus.

BEHAR: -whatever it is at that point, before they get the abortion and if they can’t hear a heartbeat then they will have to undergo an ultrasound vaginal sonogram which I had one of those. I had one of those because I had benign tumors on my ovaries a few years ago and it was extremely intrusive and invasive.

ELISABETH HASSELBECK: It’s uncomfortable. I agree with you.

BEHAR: It’s like, what are we? What is this, the Taliban now? What are we, in Afghanistan? Where are we exactly in this country?

Ryan's Reaction:

Joy Behar calls the mandate to force women who chose to get an abortion to have an ultrasound comparable to the Taliban and living in Afghanistan. Let's take a look at how this could possibly be evil shall we. First what are the possible positions to take on abortion:

1. It is a life and it is okay to kill it
2. It is a life and it is not okay to kill it
3. It is not a life and it is ok to “kill” it
4. It is not a life but it's not okay to “kill” it
   
   
   

Now, let's look at numbers three and four by catagorizing an unborn child as a “non-life.” If I truly believed that, then making women look at the “spot of blood” or whatever they say it is, before terminating it is not even close to evil. It would be equivilant to hiring a gardener to come pull my weeds and before he begins he shows me pictures of the weeds.... I'm not moved at that point. IF, on the other hand, I hire someone to throw a grenade through a bedroom window for no reason whatsoever, and he shows me pictures of a young girl that sleeps in that room, there is a chance that I will A) change my mind, or B) allow the man to continue with the job I paid him to do and feel an intense amount of mental anguish. Although the only evil that was carried out in those analogies is the part where an innocent young girl dies, Joy doesn't call that evil. She said showing the pictures is evil. Why? Well she either sees A) The fact that I choose not to kill the girl or B) The mental anguish the pictures caused me after I choose to have the young girl killed, as being evil.

Although it helps her own credibility, and mental state of mind, to tell herself and others that it is not a human being inside of a woman, she knows that it is. In fact, everyone knows that the life inside of a woman is a human life. If it wasn't there would be no need to abort (to terminate, implies that something has begun). Just look at the arguments for abortion, the CHILD will have health defects. The CHILD will not grow up in a good home. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of why. Why do we allow these insane arguments of a womans right to choose to kill over another humans right to live? When has choice ever trumped life? In fact, when does choice trump any other right? It doesn't. In principle,  our system of freedom allows us to choose how we live our life unless it infringes on ANY other right, principle among them is life. I can choose to own a car UNLESS I choose to have YOUR car. Why? because your right to property trumps my right to choose. I have a right to own a gun. It's even legal to shoot that gun. When I run into trouble is when I choose to shoot a gun in the direction of a human being. Why? Because life trumps choice.

The only possible way that people can't see through such hollow arguments such as a womans right to chose, a womans reproductive rights, and “it's my body” is if we are deliberately covering our eyes to the truth. First of all, if you choose to inject poison or insert a vacuum or hanger or whater it happens to be into your body, I would strongly discourage it, but your right, it's your body. That is not the issue however. The issue is that you're killing someone. It baffles me that I have to even say this. I really do hope that nobody actually takes the “It's my body” and the “Womens rights” arguments seriously. How about the 2,000 women that are killed every day in the abortion genocide just in America alone? I don't hear the feminists crying for their rights. As for your “reproductive rights” I have no problem with your right to reproduce. See how many pro-life people stop you from having a baby... Not one! That shoots that baseless argument dead right there. Nobody is against your right to reproduce, some, however, are against your choice to have sex and then kill your child because you were just in it for the fun, not a baby.

Which brings me to my next point, personal responsibility. In the vast majority of cases it was the woman's right to her body that got her into this situation. It was her choice to have sex with another man. At that point she should be held accountable for her actions. If you contract an STD you don't get to kill the guy you slept with. If you chose not to do your homework you can not kill your teacher cause your scared of getting a detention. If I order a pepperoni pizza and forget to get wings with it, I can't track down Papa Murphy and throw him off a cliff. You can not choose murder as an acceptable option for your mistakes. People that do that, like people that have their spouses killed, spend the rest of their life in jail. For those whom it was not a choice, my heart goes out to them and I can't imagine the pain that comes with that, but killing your child for the crimes of the father is not a sensible option. I would much rather you kill the father and show the child the love it deserves. If that is not possible then I would suggest placing the baby with another family that could do just that. 


A few more points by Alisha: A vaginal ultrasound is definitely ridiculously less invasive to a woman's body than an abortion. I also don't get people's justification that their baby is not alive when they are indeed searching for the heartbeat before they destroy the baby through abortion.

The Importance of the Bible and How It Applies to You... Part 1

On July 3rd, 2010 I started studying Psalm 119 at the suggestion of a book study of the Bible I was doing called Come Walk With Me by Carole Mayhall. I had no idea the implications this simple book would have on my comprehension, personal application and deeper love of God's Word. There were other topics and techniques for studying God's Word that I learned about but I have actually yet to finish Psalm 119 so I thought that would be a good one to post. I have been involved in many other Bible studies since then and actually forgot about good ole' Psalm 119.


Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the whole entire Bible and it is broken up into sections of 8 verses each. The whole entire 176 verses are pretty much all about God's Word and His laws which include what God's Word is, what God's Word does and our responsibility to the Word of God. It is one thing to plainly read through verses and chapters in the Bible, it is quite another thing to actually study Scripture, memorize, meditate on it, analyze it, do cross references, think clearly about how it relates to your life and what God is trying to tell you from it. That was a huge ah-ha moment for me when I started seeing how alive Scripture was and how I could use it in so many ways to learn from and grow with. The more personal applications I did using God's Word, the more excited I got about reading it and I began to really see the priceless value in the Bible and understand why God wanted me to read it. It's not about reading through the whole Bible as quick as you can so you can say 'yep, I read the Bible,' (even though reading the whole thing is important) it's about really living with the Bible as your manual to your life, wanting the things of it to show in how you live your life for Christ (if you do indeed follow Him). 


I shall start with Psalm 119:1-8 "Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep His statutes they do nothing wrong; they walk in His ways. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all Your commands. I will praise You with an upright heart as I learn Your righteous laws. I will obey Your decrees; do not utterly forsake me."


First I ask questions about what I don't understand such as... what are precepts, statues and decrees? They are rules, laws and orders, the 10 Commandments for example, the things God wants us to be doing and how He wants us to live.


Then I do cross references which is finding other Bible verses that pertain to the verses I'm studying. At first I didn't think this was an important step and I didn't understand the value of it, but once you start finding every single verse that has to do with something you don't want to stop! It's amazing how the Bible all goes together even when its different books were written by different people, in different parts of the world and at different times. 

• Psalm 19:8 "The statues of the Lord are right, rejoicing in the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes."
• Joshua 1:8 "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."
• John 1:17 "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

What God's Word is according to Psalm 119:1-8... righteous, of the Lord, to be fully obeyed.

What God's Word does according to Psalm 119:1-8... those who walk accordingly have blameless ways and are blessed, it shows what doing nothing wrong is like, those who follow God's Word are not put to shame.

My responsibility to God's Word based on Psalm 119:1-8... keep the Word and seek Jesus with all my heart, walk in His ways, fully obey Him, be steadfast in obeying His decrees, consider all His commands, praise Him in an upright heart, learn God's righteous laws, obey His decrees.

And that my friends is how you do a verse study or study a group of verses. See how much more you get out of it rather than just reading it through to actually dissect each piece of it and apply it as well as find other Scripture references that back up the first verses. I'll do one more set of the next 8 verses because I love this so much! And perhaps I will post more later...

Psalm 119:9-16 "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your Word. I seek You with all my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands. I have hidden Your Word in my heart so that I might not sin against You. Praise be to You, O Lord; teach me Your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that have come from Your mouth. I rejoice in following Your statues as one rejoices with great riches. I meditate on Your precepts and consider Your ways. I delight in Your decrees; I will not neglect Your Word."

Questions: none I can think of.

Cross Reference: 

• Psalm 37:31 "The law of his God is in his heart, none of his steps shall slide."
• Psalm 1:2 "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night."
• 1 Timothy 5:22 "Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins; keep yourselves pure."
• 1 John 3:3 "And everyone who has hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

What God's Word is: laws from His mouth, not to be neglected.

What God's Word does: keep a young man's way pure, helps  hearts not sin against God.

My responsibility to God's Word: seek the Lord with all my heart, put His word in my heart so I may not sin against God and His Word, learn the Lord's decrees, speak and know all the laws from God's Word, rejoice in following God's Word like one rejoices in great riches, meditate on the Word, consider the Lord's ways, delight in His decrees, I WILL NEVER NEGLECT YOUR WORD LORD!   

Why I Refuse to "Coexist..."

If you have spent as little as five minutes on the roadways in the last few years you've no doubt come across the new "Coexist" bumper sticker fad. This kind of hollow bumper sticker ideology has become prevalent in our society. They are a byproduct of an intellectually lazy and cowardice society. Political correctness has brainwashed people into believing that the goal of life is to live in any way that you choose so long as you don't, under any circumstance, make a person feel uncomfortable with their choices, no matter what they may be. 

Unfortunately, there is a bigger underlying problem that "Coexist" brings about apart from breeding the most intellectually weak nation in history, and that is this; to embrace an ideology is to disavow its counter belief. To embrace all beliefs is to disavow all beliefs. That is to say, in order to embrace everyone's beliefs as being equally valid, we have to also believe that all beliefs are equally false. It is an exercise in anti-belief in the name of being nice. It is intellectual suicide and is Satanic at its core. After all, Satan doesn't ask us to worship him. He simply asks us not to worship God. In the words of R.C. Sproul, "Truth is too important to kill it in the streets in the name of peace."

By: Ryan Schlipp

Are You Virtuous? Part 2

In case you missed Are You Virtuous Part 1 you can click here to read it...


"Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies." Proverbs 31:10

This verse is very clear that a woman of virtue is a rare thing, and her value or her price is far above even the most valuable gems in the world. This is definitely something I strive for and I will obviously always be a work in progress because I do sin and I will always have something new to work on in my life. I think it is important for everyone to strive for being virtuous, but especially women because they can be such a blessing or a burden to their husbands and families depending on how they choose to act. I am not saying men and women are not equal, we are equal in Christ and how we all have to come to Him, but He has designed men and women for very specific purposes which are different from each other. Neither purpose is better or more important than the other, in fact they were designed to work perfectly together until sin corrupted the world. 

A virtuous woman is to be 

• devoted to her family- Ruth 1:16 "But Ruth said: Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God." / Proberbs 31:11-12 "The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so  he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life."

• delighting in her work- Ruth 2:2 "So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor. And she said to her, go, my daughter." / Proverbs 31:13 "She seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands. (I realize these tasks they were doing we don't really do today, but they can still be applied to any type of hard work and working cheerfully, for God and without complaining. Something that is definitely tough to do!)

• diligent in her labor- Ruth 2:7, 17, 23 "And she said, please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house. 17 So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 23 So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law." / Proverbs 31:14-21,24,27 "She is like the merchant ships, she brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household, and a portion for her maidservants. She considers a field and buys it; from her profits she plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength, and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good, and her lamp does not go out by night. She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hand holds the spindle. She extender her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet." Wow, these ladies are definitely hard workers! I'm pretty sure I have no idea what it means to work hard compared to these women and at the time they lived, how much work they had to put in just for food. Ruth stayed with her mother-in-law even though her husband (MIL's son had passed away). Ruth looked at her like family and vowed to take care of her and serve her. As far as the verses from Proverbs, it is pretty amazing that this woman woke up when it was still dark out to prepare food for her family, sold things to make money for her family, and even helped the poor. It makes me take a look at my own life and the areas where I get lazy in and it motivates me to be more virtuous like these women were, I mean hey they even got their stories recorded in the Bible. That is pretty amazing, and I think that just quietly working hard and not worrying if anyone notices and gives you the credit for it is virtuous in itself.

• dedicated to Godly speech- Ruth 2:10, 13"So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner? 13 Then she said, let me find favor in your sight, my Lord; for You have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants." / Proverbs 31:26 "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness." As I discussed in my Mouth and Tongue Issue post having self-control over what we say is so important and so very difficult! 'Word vomit' comes out so easily, so naturally, saying whatever we want, whatever we are feeling. There's that key word however, 'feeling.' Our feelings change momentarily and are not to be completely trusted which is contrary to what the world tells you to 'follow your heart.' Godly speech is something that takes work, practice, and purposeful thinking before speaking as well as lots of prayer which should be our first choice of lifelines when it comes to anything and everything.

• dependent on God- Ruth 2:12 "The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge." / Proverbs 31:25, 30 "Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come. 30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." I used to 'depend' on myself for well, everything. I did not know God at all and I did not know He wanted me to depend on Him. I made all my decisions on my own, I went through life struggles on my own, I tried to make things happen on my own, I had absolutely no one I turned to who I knew that knew every single thing that would happen in my life and what was best for me. Now, I can't imagine anymore trying to make my own decisions without Christ showing me His will and not my will or my 'plans' I thought I wanted for my life. Everything I do, I do for Him and with Him in mind, I am slow to make decisions now because I need time to pray over them and for God to show me it is His will. 

• dressed with care- Ruth 3:3 "Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking." / Proverbs 31:22,25 "She makes tapestry for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. 25 Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come." Wow, this is a huge area for me, God has shown me so much about modesty I can't even write it all down here (perhaps I will do a whole post on it later). It is really important to take care in what you wear, how you cover your body. Do you show others that you respect your body and God and cover up appropriately? Or do you feel that your body is what is valuable about you and show it off to anyone and everyone? I think there are different 'levels' of modesty and I am not an extreme version of it if you want to put me in a category, but every day I look in the mirror and ask 'is this pleasing to God?' I definitely have changed a lot if I thought something possibly could be too low cut or something and I have pretty much gotten rid of most of my old wardrobe because I just could not wear those things anymore. I don't have any shorts, short shirts or anything like that that I would wear in public. I always wear shirts under shirts and make sure I am covered up. 

• discreet with men- Ruth 3:10 "Then he said, blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich." / Proverbs 31:11-12 (quoted above) I think that it's tough for women to understand the blessings of being discreet with men and not throwing themselves at men. Desperate doesn't look good on anyone, trust me, I've tried it! Being a quiet, meek and reserved woman waiting for God's plan to unfold is the most humbling thing you can do, it also shows Christ how much you trust Him. This is a huge lesson He taught me and for two years I did not initiate any type of relationship, but I grew in the Lord and focused on Him. It was amazing how fulfilled I was and impartial to when He would bring me a Godly man that He knew was right for me versus what I thought I wanted. It is very important to treat every man as some other woman's potential husband or actual husband. You would not do or say anything that you would not do in front of his wife or future wife. (If you are in a relationship then it is a little different but you still need to hold back and wait for God's greater blessing in marriage if you are pursuing a Godly relationship). There is no need to try to make a certain guy like you, it is so middle school and plus it puts up a false image of you and it will attract the wrong men. Having a man who appreciates a meek and God fearing woman is an amazing thing! It means he probably wants to be the leader of a home someday and that is definitely the type of man you want around for your children. It is far better to be alone for awhile than base a relationship off of looks or physical things. This is the hard path to choose, so much of the world wants things now and with anyone. That is not how God planned for people to be and that life promises happiness but fails miserably.

• delivering blessings- Ruth 4:14-15 "Then the woman said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel! And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him." / Proverbs 31:28-29, 31 "Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates." In Ruth, she took care of Naomi and blessed her by making her life better and easier. This makes me think about how often we take care of our elderly relatives and hey I'm guilty of this as well. Look around nearly every town and city and you see homes for the elderly where most of their families visit just for Christmas if that. I understand there are extreme circumstances where some people just don't really have any families left, or they live far away and many families today are not financially capable of taking that loved one into their home. I ask this question, do we do everything we possibly can to care for that person and make their life better and easier? I know I don't and I need to make time for those older relatives and show them I do care about them and not just on holidays. They need people every single day just like any of us, they just can't come to us like we go everywhere we desire to go. In these verses in Proverbs we get a visual of a woman who works incredibly hard for her family, stays in line with the Word of God, and continues to seek His will because her children call her blessed and her husband praises her. Wow, that must be an amazing feeling to have your family treat you like that. I wish every American family was how God intended families to be; it's like complete and perfect harmony with each other working together as a team. It sounds like a dream, but with Christ at the center it is attainable. Obviously no one is perfect and no family is perfect but with Christ at the heart of all decisions it is going to be honoring God. How many of you out there had that type of home life when you were a child? What do you want for your current and/or future children?

Are You Virtuous? Part 1

I'm not sure if virtuous is a word people use anymore, it sort of makes me think of women from Little House on the Prairie (LHP- probably not the acronym but it is now..) in their amazing hand made dresses for some reason. I'm here today to change that stereotype in my mind and apply being a virtuous person to the here and now; how can I be virtuous today? I think I think of LHP because those women were incredibly hard working, they made everyone in their families clothes by hand, they worked ridiculously hard just to make one meal because it was all from scratch. Here I think I work ridiculously hard carrying groceries in the house, what if I had to grow my own grain, and all of my own veggies and butcher my own cow (ok... lets definitely NEVER think of me butchering a cow again).  Side note: in case you didn't know, yes, I am a vegetarian and I have been for 14 years or something ridiculous. Just to answer your question in your head before you ask it, no I am not a hippie or a member of PETA or any other ridiculous liberal agenda pushing program, I just get grossed out from meat and that's it!

 

Anyways... enough about my meat issues... wow that sounds gross... back to virtuous. (I kinda need a reminder every once in awhile before I get off on all sorts of tangents, but hopefully that is what will make my blog exciting!) Virtuous according to dictionary.reference.com is chaste; conforming to moral and ethical principles, morally excellent, upright. Also, in Galatians 5:22-23 are basic Christian characteristics/ virtues/ fruits of the Spirit... "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." Wow, they really don't leave anything out in that list! If you have all of those virtues all of the time, I can just imagine you really wouldn't have anything else to work on... except perhaps coping with your long-suffering once in awhile. The Spirit they are referring to in this case is the Holy Spirit which is part of God, as in God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. They are all the same 'person' but they have different entities if you will and they have somewhat different jobs but they all work perfectly together. Think of it like if I had a banana, and I cut it into 3 pieces, it is all still the same banana, but each piece looks a little different (1 Timothy 2:5, Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14)

It is an analogy used for children but it actually helped me to get a better visual aid of how this could happen. There are also many mysteries such as this that our human minds will never under understand because we are human. God is infinitely greater than we are, and that is why we can't understand His ways according to Isaiah 55:9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My (God's) ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." This really humbles me whenever I hear this verse because in my own little brain I'm good to go, I know what's going on and I can think things through. Not according to this verse, there are things I don't even know could potentially exist and I will never know while I am on this earth because it is things that are not of this world. It also reminds me of how God knows the whole entire scene of my life second by second and I have no idea what will even happen tomorrow.


As far as a smooth amazing transition into this next paragraph... there probably won't be one, so I hope you're ok with that. It's a tough thing to be virtuous, to be morally excellent, upright, and conform to moral as well as ethical principles on a daily basis (see www.areyouagoodperson.org for a better understanding of God's laws). 


2 Peter 1:3-7 "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory... He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love."

God promises to those who love Him and follow Him, that He has given them enough to stay away from the world's evil desires. Being virtuous is essentially that; not being tangled in lustful sins, sins God despises (which is all sin quite frankly). But, alas, we have to make an effort Peter tells us (he wrote the book of 2 Peter), we have to hold up our end of the plan, to make an effort to add faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love unto ourselves. We have to live, sleep, breathe and be covered with these virtues daily. Wow, I just want to take a minute to soak that in, because that is one heavy call God has laid on His children's hearts. He is also telling us, however, that through His divine power He has given us everything we need for these things to be accomplished in our lives. Again, wow, that just makes me hunger for how much more God has for me that I don't even know exists yet. What other astonishing moments, memories, aspects of my life can He create? I am honestly wow'ed every single day by His grace and mercy and His will for my life and how much more infinitely and how much greater it is above my pitiful will I thought would be amazing for me. I feel heavily convicted right now because I feel I have not been using the gifts and appreciating the promises God gave me the day I became His child, the day I said yes Christ, please me Lord over my life, yes Lord, please forgive my disgusting sins because I fall short of Your amazing glory (Romans 3:23). 

Mouth and Tongue Issue... Do You Have Control Over Yours?

Proverbs 21:23  "Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles."


The mouth and tongue issue...

Well I definitely struggle with saying things I should not, and I honestly don't know a person who doesn't say the wrong thing to others once in awhile. It's really the worst when I have said something to someone and I can't stop thinking about it and how mean or dumb they probably think I am, then when I finally get the courage to apologize to them, they don't even remember it! I just feel this great sense of relief though when it's all resolved and apologized for. I thank my God for convicting me of things I have probably been doing for years that I never paid any attention to. I cringe when I think back at how I used to talk in every day language. I think it stopped when I had my daughter Kayleigh, I never thought it was right to swear or talk with foul language around children so I pretty much stopped right when I had her. Then to my surprise I started to notice many parents who did not stop their bad language around children and it bothers me more than I can say. There also were a few young children I knew who would swear at adults which was shocking to me, but to the world this is nothing new. Nothing new at all. In fact, the Bible has something to say about that in Ecclesiastes 1:9 "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."



Now, back to my original Proverbs! Whoever guards his speech, words, tongue, mouth will keep his soul from troubles. It is an interesting connection that this makes between what comes out of our mouths and whether or not our soul has troubles. If people only knew, if they were only remotely aware of half the things they decide to say and the impact it has on themselves as well as others, I wonder if  they would think a little bit more. It's amazing how the world tries so very hard to cover up this fact and promote outspokenness and foul language. I'm not against freedom of speech at all here, but there are a lot of times where people's mouth's get them into more trouble than was worth. Everyone always wants to get the last word in, I know I used to be like that. I would not just quietly and meekly leave an argument, I HAD to be heard and I HAD to administer my 'closing arguments' to the other person no matter what! I probably considered myself to be quite a nice person, but if you were trying to tell me something I didn't want to hear or didn't agree with, I was going to let you know it. And I used to always interrupt people and be loud and obnoxious. I thought it was fun and I didn't care. Fun was the purpose of my existence, whatever I wanted to say, do or think I did just that. 


Over the past nearly 3 years however, the Lord Jesus Christ has radically done a work within my heart, soul and mind. I surrendered completely to Him and I didn't want to be in charge of my pathetic life anymore, so I started little by little giving Him more and more control of my life in different areas. One of those being guarding what I say. It's always tough to think very carefully before you blurt something out, but I'm sure there are some talented people who don't have a real problem with that at all. (Please teach the rest of us!) I think that learning to surrender what you say as a Christian can be extremely powerful because a lot of what we do say can ruin our testimony as far as what we say Christ has done in our lives (for those of you who are followers of Christ). I think this is where so much of the world calls us hypocrites and extremely judgmental, well they had to get those ideas from somewhere and I think that too many times Christians have opened their mouths out of perhaps anger, embarrassment, irritation, or to try and prove something and have given all Christians a bad name. That is why I find it extremely important to monitor what I say because I represent Christ in a fallen world that is used to filth, trash and unfiltered hurtful language. 


I just want to say to people who do not personally know Christ that if a professing Christian has ever verbally attacked you or judged you or said don't do something when they themselves have done that exact thing, please don't judge your perceptions of God based on that person's actions and behavior. None of us are perfect, and if anyone claims to be I would love to follow them around and see how they achieve perfection in their thoughts, actions and everything they do. No one person can do the right, perfect and holy things all day every single day except Jesus Christ. He was the only perfect person to walk this earth because He also is God. I need to be looking to His perfect example on how to speak to others because I myself, will always fall short. 


Ephesians 4:29 "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."
I love that verse because it is extremely clear as to the things we should be talking about as Christians. Now I have no doubt we should be using the Word of God to help people see the sin in their lives that they are accountable to God for (see my 'Eternity... What Matters' post) but in no way should we be trying to tear people down and spew venom out of our mouths. I think that it seems so normal to talk like that or hear language like that we don't realize it is like poison to us. 


James 1:26 "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless." 
This verse talks about just that, how if you are a Christian and you are trying to tell another person about the saving knowledge of Christ and you do not control or bridle your tongue, everything else you have said is worth nothing. That is a pretty serious problem if you would love nothing more than for another person to be saved by the grace of God. 

James 3:2-6 "For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell."

                                                 
This analogy the Bible makes is very well done and makes it fairly simple to apply God's truth to our lives in practical ways. We all stumble in many ways, and Christians are definitely no different. Everyone has areas in their lives they need to let God work on and surrendering things to Him you think you can do yourself is no small task. It takes a constant decision of giving up control to Him and letting Him work things out. It actually took me awhile to understand fully what that meant, and that I no longer had to do things on my own. I was so used to trying to fix things, trying to mend things, trying to accomplish things and trying to make things happen; but the key word in all of those is 'trying.' Things never really went well when I was in charge of my own life, I was in a dark place I really saw no way out of. Then one amazing day, someone shared with me how valuable I was to Christ and that He wanted a personal relationship with me and He wanted to handle everything and help me to make decisions and not do anything on my own. 


In James, I really enjoy the ship analogy because it gives a very clear picture of something so huge (like a giant ship) being controlled by a tiny rudder. It sort of puts into perspective just how powerful our tongues and what we can can be, we can use it to build people up and allow blessings in our lives or we can use our tongues to tear other people down with our lives crashing to the ground right along with them. Digging into these verses really gets me thinking, or wanting to think, more purposefully about the things I say and how they may be harming others or myself. 

And I'll leave you with one more verse...

1 Peter 3:8-11  "Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that  you may inherit a blessing. For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it."  


  

-Alisha

Eternity... What Matters

                                    
It is a very interesting thing to sit and wonder what should I have as my first blog post topic... what would people actually want to read about (assuming at least 1 person will read this). I haven't written anything in this sort of free writing style in a very long time and it certainly was not broadcast on the internet. Oh great, it already says I spelled internet wrong which I know I definitely did NOT! I think that people want to read something real, something honest, something slightly entertaining and of course something they can relate to in some way. It seems simple but when you over think it, it feels impossible! Of course it is not impossible because people probably blog amazing things every single day... and I need to get a hold of them and get some ideas! No no no, nothing copy cat here, I'm just saying, what do people actually want to spend their time reading? Which begs a very interesting question as to what things to people read that are a complete waste of time and what things are actually valuable... the only thing that comes to my mind as the most valuable thing ever is things of... eternity. 


The only eternal thing in this world is God's Word... everything else will pass away but the truth of the Creator of the universe will remain the same. 





Proverbs 21:21 "He who follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness and honor." 


I think that even in my 25 years on earth I have definitely followed plenty of unrighteous ways and they are never worth it. I sat around in my brokenness for far too long, wondering what was a better way of living my life. A lot of Americans have a mentality to do what you want to do whenever you want, you know what is best for you. It is extremely selfish and if you don't believe it is selfish, prove me wrong. There are things that we all have to do obviously, but there are many unnecessary wants that we lust after in this life which can keep our focus so far away from God we think we don't even need Him. It's tough to follow something if you really don't know what it is... so let's look up the word righteous... it means uprightness, morality, observance of the law, justifiable, accepting standards (in this case God's standards), and in accordance with accepted standards of morality (dictionary.reference.com). Wow, that leaves my head spinning and it definitely is not how I would tend to describe myself, I have to work extremely hard daily to even attempt to be not even close to God's definition of righteous. His definition would be following the 10 commandments found in Exodus 20:1-17 which are: 

• 1) You shall have no other gods before Me (God)
• 2) You shall not make for yourself any idol 
• 3) You shall not take the name of God in vain
• 4) Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy 
• 5) Honor your father and mother
• 6) You shall not murder (1 John 3:15 "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him) 
• 7) You shall not commit adultery
• 8) You shall not steal
• 9) You shall not lie/ bear false witness against someone
• 10) You shall not covet (desire anything that belongs to another person)

When I look at those standards God has set, they seem so trivial, so simple, so obvious. The truth, however, is that keeping all of them all the time every second of your life would mean that you are perfect. I know that I have broke every single one of them and I am extremely far from perfect, but that doesn't mean I can't strive to do the right and honorable things to Christ when I need to make decisions about my behavior. Reading through the commandments humbles me more every time and reminds me where I came from, when I used to enjoy my sin and do whatever I wanted when I wanted... back to the selfish American model of thinking... oh yes, I was there too. But God is telling us that if we follow righteousness, if we follow Him, follow Jesus Christ, we will find life, righteousness and honor. He also wants us to follow mercy too! Mercy's definition is "compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; divine favor; blessing; a pardon" (dictionary.reference.com). Wow, we are called to follow that! I feel like that has all been given to me when I am so undeserving as pointed out in Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." It is also pointed out when I try to measure up next to God's standards, His holy commandments. Serious stuff though and very important to think about in your own life... what would God say about your decisions, and how you have lived your life? The exciting thing though is that He forgives. He can and will take all of those mistakes and disgusting sins far far away from you, He did that for me. 
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Acts 3:19 "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."
Sooooo amazing to me that we can just ask him anywhere we are and  He hears our repentance, turning away from our sins, confessing them to Him. It takes a lot of self-examination to understand that you are wrong, that you are doing things that God hates, that you are sinning against Him. That's a tough thing for many people to admit because we all are quick to say "I'm a good person." I used to say that about myself, but Christ has shown me my faults and taken away my pride and trust in myself and I have given my trust and control of my life completely over to Christ. The One who sets sinners free. You as well, can trust in Him... what we all truly deserve is eternal punishment because of our sins. We deserve to be separated from God forever because we did not want to listen to Him, we wanted to follow our hearts, our sinful desires, our own way. There are two paths I keep hearing over and over; my way/ your way and God's way. I have tried my way long enough and that way stinks, it leads to death, destruction, sorrow, misery, and eventually eternity in hell. God's way is ridiculously better than my way could ever be, because He knows everything. He created everything. He gave everything. He gave His Son Christ up for us (sinners who were against Him) He was the sacrifice for our sins, He paid our fine, our penalty and judgment was upon His perfect Son Jesus Christ so that we could live. 


I. Will. Never. Get. Over. That.  


-Alisha