Just want to encourage you all to stay in the Word this week. I don't know about you but last week was a battle week for me. It seemed like the enemy tried to hit me every day. This weekend I have had a fever and stomach ache on top of everything else! You know that's just what the enemy wants, to get us depressed and out of focus. So, join me this week. Let's support each other in the Word. We need each other to help us be 'overcomers' in this world.
I am praying for complete healing in my body. I was reading chapter 10 and the instructions Jesus gave the disciples when he sent them out two by two. One thing they were to expect was the feeling that they were like sheep being sent to wolves!!! I can relate to that. They were to heal the sick and deliver the bound.
What are we doing? What am I doing? I am worn out! But I also feel encouraged that the Lord is right beside me. I feel His presence and know He is here.
What is the Lord saying to you? Are you in a battle? Are you sensing His presence? Who are you ministering to?
Let this week be a week of victories......for all of us!
6 comments:
Good morning, Susan,
You’re up and at it early. I was reading something from Suzette Caldwell’s book on ‘Praying to Change Your Life’, and thought this a very choice passage regarding healing:
“The Word of God is medicine for our soul and body. When we are sick, we are to speak life into the sickness using His Word. It is true that God will use doctors to bring about healing, but God’s Word is what brings the cure. The Bible is clear on this:
“God sent His Word and healed them and delivered them from destruction.”
“My Son, give attention to My Words; incline your ear to My sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, health to all their flesh.”
Awesome words from God’s own mouth, right? So, I am praying health to your body, because His Word, right to us, brings results. I’m learning new things from this book, and also being reminded of things I have known, but maybe have not put into practice. I was reminded how it was God’s Word that brought about all of KKV. He spoke it to me all those years ago through the mouth of Mom Beall, and when He said, “It’s now time to fulfill that Word, we were obedient, and as a result – KKV. We need to hear His Word for every decision, for every move, for every situation in our lives. That’s what makes us really ALIVE IN HIM.
Love you much, much, much.
PS Mom returned this to me as an email so I posted it for her!
Hi Pastor Susan - praying for your complete healing... and that you & Pastor Jerry have a wonderful 35th anniversary year together!
This chapter just seemed to resonate so much of what is happening in our culture right now! Like in verses 21-23, "When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you ... irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate!"
Perhaps someone can help me with this ...
One verse that has been in the back of my mind and heart since having children - and even more so when they are little babies - vs. 37, "If you prefer son or daughter over Me, you don't deserve Me."
Now, i know that i most certainly love Jesus more than i love my children, but there is such a tug at my heart, really at my soul (my emotions - perhaps thanks to hormones; and my mind - thinking about what i think they still need from me)...there is such a tie, a love that i feel for them, an enjoyment i have of raising them -- but i don't want that to be greater than my love for Jesus, than my joy of serving Him. I want to be deserving of Him -- thru the blood of Jesus -- and so i sometimes feel myself pulled, at least emotionally, and i think perhaps more when they are little babies and all i'm doing is work at home and with them.
Now that i think about it, i think that my perspective on earthy things and heavenly things DOES come into better focus when i am out in my neighborhood or at the store, around other people, seeing needs and hearing hurts of the lost and broken.
Maybe this verse is speaking on a different level, it does use the word "prefer" -- i don't prefer my kids over Jesus... and i wouldn't chose them over Jesus... hmmmmm.. this verse (and the one right before it -- which has some context, as it says that even family members can be our "worst enemies" - unbelieving ones) sure brings a heart-check for me everytime i read it!
Any words of insight from anyone?
Heather - I have always read that to make me remember what my priorities are in life. So many mothers put their kids before everything in their lives. Once they come along their husbands take second seat and they even put their own lives on hold. The Lord's priority is FIRST Him, THEN your self and your husband, THEN your kids. There is of course sacrifice of your time and energy that your have never had to do before when kids come along, but I think if we remember that these kids are ours just to raise and God is the one who has given us charge over them under Him - they aren't ours - ever. They are His. He loves them more that we ever could and He is the one that ultimately takes care of them. That way, when they finally begin going out one their own (even when they cross the street by themselves for the first time) we can trust that God is right there with them - even when we can't be.
Hope this helps you!!!
Love your comment!
It does help and speaks of the very thing i so quickly forget that Dustin prayed when we dedicated our kids ... that the kids are really God's anyway! thank you for your response!
In Matthew 10:34-37, Jesus was not encouraging conflict in our home or in our families or to not love our parents or our children. Rather Jesus was reminding us that He is to be our first priority, our first love. It’s our heart attitude. Choosing to follow Jesus brings change in our values, in our morals, in the way we respond to life and to people in action and in word, etc. These changes will bring a spiritual separation/conflict within our family (and friends) without our actually neglecting or abandoning our family or friends. The evidence of His presence in our life brings conviction for a decision by our family members and friends . . . they will either accept or reject Jesus.
God knows the time and focus it takes to raise our children, especially when they are small. The love and joy we feel toward them is placed in our hearts by God. We are an extension of His love to them. The problem enters when we try to be "god" to our children and/or when our children's lives/activities become our “god,” causing us to exclude God from our own life or push Him to the back burner at best.
I was probably in 7th or 8th grade in the Lutheran church when these verses made an imprint on my soul/emotions. I realized after I became a Christian, after my mother had died, that the lack of teaching and spiritual understanding of these verses caused me to somewhat distance myself emotionally from my mother. That is what “religion” will do to our thinking and life choices. Thank God for His grace and for His Holy Spirit to bring knowledge, understanding, and wisdom of His word in our lives!
These verses remind us to continually examine our heart attitude toward God . . . is He our first priority, our first love? Or has someone or something taken the throne of our heart?
Those are excellent words of wisdom, Mom! Thank you for articulating it all so clearly. It is very helpful to me. =)
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