May the words of my mouth...

I have just started a new book by a lady called Heather Bixler, which supports readers in memorising the word. This is something that I have always wanted to do but struggled to maintain remembering the verses long term or to do it very regularly at all. And so I'm finding her method very helpful. 

This week  I am memorising Psalm 71:4 'As for me I will always have hope, I will praise you more and more'

one of the things Heather encourages us to do is to read the whole chapter in context and journal your thoughts on the matter.

Psalm 71

Though David is obviously going through a very difficult time, he is still fully relying on God. He fully trusts Him for refuge, rescue, deliverance and salvation. He describes the Lord as His hope and his confidence! These are not contradicting statements, biblical hope is assured and certain and is something for us to actively look forward to and so it is right for us to have our confidence in the same thing. It is developing the reliance which he has had from his youth, God has never failed him.

David is so thankful to God for everything He has done fore him that his body - especially his mouth can't help but praise and tell others of what the Lord has done for Him. He is so full that he can't help telling of God's work, attributes and His salvation ALL DAY LONG!
"my mouth is filled with your praise", "declaring your splendour all day long", "my mouth will tell", "I will proclaim...I will declare", "I will praise, I will sing, my lips will shout for joy, my tongue will tell"......
                                               ALL DAY LONG!
What an awesome challenge, David was so passionate and thankful that he was literally bursting out praise. 

Many times the Bible warns us about the dangers of the tongue but David here is demonstrating the right way - living out Luke 6:45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

how have i used my mouth today?

Am I bursting with thanksgiving? If so am I making sure to share it with others giving God all the the glory for everything He has done by His grace!

Chris Tomlin "how can I keep from singing" - says it all really :)
 

running the race

I don't know about you but when God wants to teach me something I tend to hear it all over the place. Recently I've been hearing lots about running the race and for Christians this is so much more than watching the Olympics, but this event has given us a reason to think about it all the more.

Hebrews 12:1-3
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us through off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart"

This was the text used in a sermon that was the first of the things I heard on this topic. It came from a guest speaker in a church that I was visiting and had never been to before.
Some times I settle in and just expect my life to be easy and then get annoyed when challenges come my way. We know that Christianity is difficult but when we gave our lives to Christ we signed up for the marathon of life, its supposed to be hard, its supposed to be difficult and its supposed to be tiring! But God calls us to persevere to carry on through every rain and every storm that threatens to stop us running all together, this passage challenges us to throw off all those outer layers that have become water logged and are slowing us down (Colossians 3 helps us work out how to throw off the soggy clothes and put on the Lycra!)

I feel like I am so easily entangled by sin and often the same sins, that sometimes it can be totally debilitating and stop me running all together, like I'm running through a swamp or something. It tempts us to give in and allow it to take over because it would be easier than battling through the obstacle, we can't run effectively with a big rucksack of our sinful behaviours on our backs that we can't get rid of.

We need to fix our eyes on the immovable person of Jesus who is waiting for us on the other side, He already knows how our race will finish but He's there cheering us on (Isaiah 40:29-31) and praying for us, He is our forerunner, our pace setter, He has already been there and run the race ahead of us. It is also part of our job to help along our fellow runners, to spur them on, to encourage them, to build them up and work along side them.

My second reminder of this was at the holiday club at my church, it was so fun to see young kids learning memory verses and singing songs that God used to remind me of my race. One of the memory verses that the children learnt was 1 Corinthians 9:25 "Everyone who competes in the games goes in to strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever!". Right now all over the world athletes are in strict training getting ready for the Olympics, they are dedicated and diligent, committed and passionate. Even though its hard to train hard enough to become good enough to compete in the Olympics, they carry on training because they are passionate in their goal of getting that medal. This was such a huge challenge to me!! we should be becoming more and more dedicated, diligent, committed and passionate about becoming more Christlike and doing everything to glorify God! I'm really glad that God has given me people in my life that I can describe using these words to be my example.

I am praying that I will get better at running and will finish my race well. I am praying that even through the slug and battle of life and work I will keep running  well, keep throwing of those things that are hindering me and that whilst climbing over the obstacles I will be able to do what I can do glorify God in my race.

I love this song! and reminds me of what I need to do (sorry about the Spanish subtitles)

scripture

I listened to a sermon today that reminded me that God and scripture are two of the only things that are constant in life. God is unfailing and never changing, yesterday, today and forever, Jesus is the same! Scripture is God's chosen mean of communicating with us. He gives it to guide us and to light our path, which is the whole meaning of the lighthouse. Scripture is so important for every single part of our lives, it helps us make decisions, encourages us and helps us with out defence strategy against satan. Ephesians 6 talks about the armour of God so "that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything to stand." One of the weapons available to us is the sword of the spirit, the word of God. This is our only offensive weapon and in order to use it effectively against satan's advances we have to learn it and know it. warriors and sword fighters don't just pick up a sword and run in to a battle they practice, do exercises to learn how it works and how they can use it effectively and this is how our relationship with the word should be. we need to learn it and practice using it so that when the time comes we can use it in our defence. Psalm 119:10-11 says " I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you". When satan tempts us we need to have these scriptures ready in our hearts so we can stand up and fight against it so that we dont sin against God. 
God promises that He will give us everything that we need to serve Him in each circumstance. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."

God will give you a way out, so exercise your sword skills, commit scripture to heart and guard yourself from getting into compromising situations.

a whole new world

Blogging is a whole new world to me. There are a few that I read regularly and love and find soo helpful and my wish is to be of some small amount of help to other people.
My aim is to share what I am learning from the word. At the moment I don't have the internet at home and so am reliant on being at other peoples houses. At the end of next week I should be at one with technology and be able to share regularly. 

My friend once told me  that a quiet time is not done until you have shared it with someone. So for sharing with you all a good place to start is to share one of the first Bible verses I ever memorised. John 3:16 - "for God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him, will not perish but have everlasting life."  God's love has no boundaries, it has no favouritism, it is limitless, perfect, unchanging, incomparable, indescribable! and so much more and the most unbelievable thing about it, is that He wants a close and person relationship with each one of us and this is why He sent His son to die for us on the cross.