A Good Bible Study

A Good Bible Study: Stop trying to earn my love and just call on me

2011-12-09T11:31:00.001-08:00

Photo by David Castillo Dominici, courtesy
of www.freedigitalphotos.net

Hello, thank you for sharing A Good Bible Study with me! We are discussing the passionate love of God, and our passionate response.

Read with me from one of my favorite books in the Bible, Romans. I love the way it just spells it all out, holding nothing back, telling it like it is. Some times we need that in our lives. We need someone to be honest, and set us straight, while never letting us forget how much we are loved.

Romans 10:2-4

New Living Translation (NLT)

^"2 I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. ³ For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. ⁴ For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given.^[a] As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God."

Remember that word "zeal?" It means passion! We can be passionate about all the wrong things, can't we. It’s possible to even be passionate for God, butstill be off the mark. Remember Apollos? Go back and read that post for a quick refresher, then come back here. I'll wait.

We can think we are showing passion for someone or something, but we might be barking up the wrong tree altogether. You know how those good intentions go.

For example, my husband and I love each other verymuch, but if I do not learn what makes him feel loved, and do everything I see as loving except those things, am I really taking the action to lovehim? Remember, the passionate love God desires is a verb, it is volitional, itis not just an emotion, it is what you do with that emotion.

The Israelites thought they were loving God byfollowing the law. After all, Moses was God's friend, and that's who gave them the law. So, the law must be good, right? The problem arose when the Israelites refused toaccept that the law was fulfilled, or completed, by the coming of the Messiah, Jesus.

Now, this wasn't hidden information. It was allplainly given in Scripture. There was no secret about the Messiah and the signsthat would precede Him, as well as prove His identity. Jesus fulfilled every oneof the more than 300 indicators, yet many of the Jews refused to accept theTruth. They continued to seek God through the law and through animal sacrifice,because they could not accept Jesus’ sacrifice.

I used to struggle with accepting forgiveness, too. I thought if I didn't work for it, it must not be real. Just accept Him? It goes against the grain for some of us.

May be it was that way for the religious Jews. Then again, there are people who would rathermiss out on their blessing if to receive it they must admit they were wrong. It's kind of like being married: you can either be stubborn, or you can be happy, but you can't be both.

It takes a change in heart to join up with someone you're determined to hate and mistrust. Many Jews had believed Jesus was a false prophet,accusing Him of receiving power from Satan to perform His miracles. If they'd only obeyed the law in this instance, testing the spirits against Scripture, it would have been abundantly clear Whose Son Jesus was.

As it was, they werezealous for the law when it suited their own opinions, but were not zealous at all for the God who gave them the law.

It's easy to get off track, isn't it. We start to forget why we started something in the first place and find ourselves feeling trapped by the very activities that we meant to improve our relationships with our spouses, kids, friends, family, even God. We become slaves to the schedule, the rules, the timeline and forget about what was the purpose of it all in the first place!

“For I bear them witness, that they have a zeal for God, butnot according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, andseeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to therighteousness of God. For Christ isthe end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes.” Romans 10: 2-4

Do you want to passionate about something? Do you wantsomething to get excited about? Then read on to verses 9-13:

“If you confess withyour mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, youwill be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and withthe mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoeverbelieves on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction betweenJew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For‘whoever calls on the name of the Lordshall be saved.”

Whoever - that's you and me, by the way - calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Period. End of story. No ifs, ands or buts. Call on Him now. His name is Jesus. Be saved now. You will figure out the rest later. Call on Him. It's enough. It's all you need. It's that simple. Do it now.

"Lord Jesus, I want to be saved. I want You to save me. I want You to be in my heart from today onward. I don't ever want to be alone again. I am sorry for everything I have done to push You away until now. I don't know what happens after this, but I believe You do. I am calling on You and want You to open my eyes and my heart to You from now on. Thank You."

Amen and love, Karen

A Good Bible Study: God's Passionate Love for you

2011-11-15T05:47:00.001-08:00

Photo by Dan, courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net

Good to see you again - In A Good Bible Study we are continually blessed by the discovery of God's passionate love for you, and for me.

We think of passion as a human emotion, focused on pleasure and success, but for God, passion is just one of many descriptions of His incredible love for you, His pure desire to be in relationship with you, and Hiis intense kindness and grace towards you. But is this a flowerly, meek and mild sort of love? Hardly.

Look at Jesus. Jesus is God-with-us. Everything that God is, Jesus is. Some of us think Jesus was mild mannered and passive, spreading peace, love and flowers, to all the world. Get ready for a wake up, ladies and gentlemen. Jesus, our God, was no pushover. Not when it came to insulting His Father's name or bringing shame to His house.

Duringthe Passover, Jesus went to the temple in Jerusalem.He found the merchants were selling sacrificial animals right in the templegrounds! Jesus was filled with righteous anger and turned over their tablessaying, "Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”

If you were a Jew, and if you were in the temple then you were, you knew Jesus was fulfilling the words in Psalm 69:9 “Zeal for Your house haseaten Me up.”

His disciples immediately remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: "Passion for God's house will consume me."

Passion, righteous anger, spiritual indignation, had risen up in our Lord because of the disrespectful manner in which the religious folk were treating the earthly house of God.

God is passionate, and Jesus is His Father's Son. He was passionate about respect for His Father in this instance, but Hedid not sin in His anger. He did not allow His passion for reverence of HisFather’s house to move Him to sin.

I love this example for those of us who believe we should always back down, even when we know what is happening around us, to us, or to those for whom we are responsible to and for, is wrong. Standing up for what is right is not sinful. It's all in the delivery. Hear that ladies?

Jesus had the right and responsibility to stand up because He is who He is, and Who He is responsible to, and who he is responsible for. For the first time, those in power were getting hit at home with the message.

According to the Nelson Study Bible, NKJV, 1997 this was Jesus' first public presentation of Himself as Messiah.

"The Messiah's ministry began in the Temple. He came to purify. The expression 'My Father's house' was a distinct claim to messiahship. At the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11) Jesus demonstrated His deity and power; here He showed His authority."

Oh yes, the Jewish leaders got what Jesus was saying by, "My Father's house."So, how did the Jewish merchants and religious leaders respond? After all, Jesus was accusing them of a misuse of their positions for financial gain, of taking advantage of the people coming to worship, and of reducing the very House of God to a pawn brokerage.

They pushed out their chests and challenged, "Oh, yeah? Prove it."

They wanted a sign. What they got was a prophesy of what was coming up in the very near future, but they didn't get it. They didn't want to get it.

Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”

He wasn't referring to the building, He was referring to Himself. He would be killed and onthe third day resurrect Himself.

Shortly after, some of the religious leaders had Jesus arrested, just as predicted, and pressured the Roman leader, Pontius Pilate, to have Jesus publicly humiliated, beaten, and crucified on a cross to die. It was verified unmistakeably that Jesus did die on that cross, and believe me, those in power were taking no chances. Dead is dead. Now, that was Fri., the first day (per Jewish tradition.)

On Sunday (the third day), the heavily guarded and sealed tomb was empty.

On that very day, Jesus resumed His ministry on earth for another 40 days, teaching to thousands of people, preparing His apostles for their continuing ministry, and fulfilling every single prophecy ever written about the Messiah, the Son of God, your Savior, and thankfully, mine.

Acts 1

Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

¹ In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach ² until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. ³ After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with^[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with^[b] the Holy Spirit.”

⁶ Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
¹⁰ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Thank you Father for sending Your Son, Jesus. Thank you Jesus, for coming. Thank you for sending Your Holy Spirit to love us, guide us, listen to us, help us, and comfort us. Amen.

Love, Karen

A Good Bible Study: A Passionate Love - encouragement, and hope for your future

2011-11-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

Photo by Shock. Courtesy
of www.photoxpress.com

Hello again! I am so glad to see you back in A Good Bible Study! We've been talking for weeks now about A Passionate Love: The Relationship Between God and You, and I will tell you - I am just about head over heels in love with God by now!

How about you? Are you getting the reality of God's zealous, fervent, passionate desire for your heart?

We are discovering just such a love in the book of Zechariah today. In fact, the whole theme of Zechariah is the passion of God, as well as His expectation, and offer of hope, for the future of His people.

Now, Zechariah picks up the story after the Israelites have come out of 70 years of Babylonian captivity. They were free, but for what?

Although they had their physical freedom, these brokenhearted people returned to a homeland ravaged by war. Everything they had built was destroyed. Their temple was in ruins; homes a pile of rubble; and hope a distant dream. These people needed serious encouragement and hope; and a little bit of a wake-up call.

See, even though the Israelites knew their captivity came about as a result of their stubbornness and rebellion against God, and true to His word, He provided for their freedom on the very day He had promised He would 70 years previously, they weren't exactly singing His praises as they plodded out the gates of Babylon and across the desert. Did I tell you the Israelites were known for their stubbornness?

I've got a little boy just like that. Thankfully he is learning what the People needed to know: to stop fighting for the sake of fighting, and come and get some loving!

The Israelites weren't there yet. In fact, as far as they were concerned, things might have just gone from bad to worse. They saw how much work it would take to rebuild their lives, and knew on their own, they just couldn't do it. So they did what all of us do at some time or other: gave up.

For 16 years afterwards the people lived physically free, but spiritually in bondage, as they refused to rebuild the temple, and their lives. Their chains were gone, but they remained impotent captives in their hearts. Blaming God for the consequences they brought on themselves, they wouldn't accept God's blessing, His help, or His love, and as a result, lived passionless lives in which the barren land reflected their barren hearts.

Can you relate? Have you accepted Jesus as your own Savior but still are living like you are under a curse? Have you accepted freedom from death and hell, but continued to live like a prisoner of your past?

We are not so different today.

Here's my tough love take on humanity, myself included:

We want to run our own lives no matter the consequences, then call on God to save our skins. Even after we are brought out of what pit we dug for ourselves, we still want to live our own way, even if it means living half a life. At least we are in charge, right? And when things don't work out, we can still plead for help from God, or . . . blame Him . . .

If I was God, I think I'd reach a point of saying, "Have a good life, see ya." And to some point, God does let us have our way if that's what we really want. You can't help someone who doesn't want it, won't accept it, doesn't value it. You can't "throw pearls after swine."

But for some reason, no matter how long we turn our backs on Him, God is always there, ready for us to be sick and tired, of being sick and tired. Ready to do things His way, and reap His love, His blessing.

The truth of it is, as much as I want my own way, sometimes I think I don't even know what I want, or what's good for me. Or, I know what I want, but I only want to get it on my terms. In other words, with no pain or sacrifice involved. Know what I mean?

I kick and struggle as God drags me into His blessing, insisting all the while that I know best, I know how the story should go, I know who are the bad guys and which way the story ends. Yet, 99 times out of 100 I let the dust settle and realize God was bringing me into something better, just as soon as He could rip my clutching hands off what I thought was shiny and good.

Most times I realize getting what I wanted without going through what I went through to get it, would have given me an empty victory. Because, God knows He needs to work some things out of my heart, before I can even enjoy His blessings, or recognize what is really, truly good, as compared to what only looks shiny on the surface. Ya feel me?

Do you know what's it like to love someone so much, to want to give them so much, and have them not even get it, at all? Have them not appreciate what you offer, not understand the value of what you have suffered for them, not care that all they really want in their heart of hearts is just waiting for them to get over themselves and accept it?

Yeah, you know what I mean.

Read Zechariah 8:2
2“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem!

The book of Zechariah is a passionate plea for the people of God to return to Him, just as they were returning to Israel after their long captivity. God was setting them free physically, and now wanted to set them free spiritually: to be cleansed of their sins and be blessed. He wanted them to get over themselves and get on with the business of living!

They might have forgotten who they were, but God hadn't. They were His.

Do you know what the name Zechariah means? "Yahweh remembers."

God gave Zechariah two prophesies for Israel (Zion.) The first was a promise that as they returned to Him, God would again bless their lives, comforting their hearts, and restoring their zeal for living. He made them a second promise as well. He promised to come and live among them.

"Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,' declares the LORD. 'Many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.'" Zechariah 2:10-11;

"This is what the LORD says: 'I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.'" Zechariah 8:3;

and "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, 'Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.'" Zechariah 8:23.

God fulfilled the first prophecy in this people's lifetime. He fulfilled the second prophecy for all our lifetimes, in Jesus Christ.

"Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'" Matthew 1:23.

Immanuel was not Jesus' name, it was a description: God, with us.

God set aside Israel as an example for all of us. As a beacon of light to show us the way to God. Not because the Jews were perfect, or even extra good. In fact, they were chosen just because of how stubborn and willful these people could be (sound like anyone you know?)

Through the Jewish nation, God showed us that He doesn't just love those of us who know how to do everything right, look good, keep things pretty. He loves us at our worst. He always has a plan no matter how many times we screw it up. He is always waiting for us to stop holding onto chains that He has already broken, and stop living it our way, and pretending that's how we like it.

We claim God is holding scales and rewarding us or punishing us with every slight raise or lowering of the balance. That gives us permission to turn our backs and decide since we can't be perfect, we won't even try. Now who is judging whom?

I want good things in my life, but I want to be the judge of what is good, what is right, as well as who should be blessed (me) and who should suffer (them.) God let me have it my way for years, and you know what I found out? I didn't know squat.

Look, I realize it takes time to learn to trust anyone, even God. That's the point. Give it time. Time to go through a few tough spots and to make a decision to say, "This doesn't look good for me, but I am going to do things to honor God, to respect myself and others, and I'm going to believe God is working this out for my good, even if it doesn't look like I am getting what I want." You know what that's called? Faith building.

Give God a chance. Trust Him with a few small things, then let Him bring you through something a little tougher. He is not creating situations to test you - that is Satan's job and honestly, we do so much of Satan's work he doesn't have much to keep him occupied, I often suspect.

He will bring you through it, not necessarily around it, but through it and stronger for the process. You are right, you might not always get what you want, when you want it, but who does? And honestly, if you are like me, you might have to go through the consequences of what you got yourself into before you invited God to intervene, but you won't be alone. Not anymore.

Keep on trusting, and you will start to notice that you are not sweating the small stuff anymore, and that's right, you find out 9 times out of 10 that it's all small stuff in the big scheme of things.

Build your faith, because I can tell you from experience, there is going to come a day when you are going to need it. Life is going to dish you out something that is going to rock you to the core, and if you have spent time trusting God with the little things, it just might enable you to trust Him when what is going on makes no sense in this world what so ever.

What am I talking about? When you lose a child. When you lose a parent. When you lose a spouse. When someone who doesn't even care about God and all you are doing to change your life and serve Him, decides to try and destroy everything in life that you care about. When people are so unfair and cruel it makes you wonder how God can even bear to watch it and seem to do nothing at all.

When you have been in captivity in Babylon.

Let's pray:

Lord, I want to see who You are, and who I am in Your eyes. I want to appreciate Your blessings and good gifts in my life. Help me to see that what You offer is so good, so precious, so much better than anything I could have planned. I am going to trust You will bring me through anything this life can throw at me, and ultimately, you will bring me into a world in which the word "unfair" does not exist! In Jesus' name, amen.

Love, Karen

Calling, compromising, chastening - where are you in the cycle?

2011-10-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

Photo by Hunta1, courtesy
of www.photoxpress.com

Hello dear friend, welcome back to A Good Bible Study where we are discovering A Passionate Love: the Relationship Between God and You.

Sometimes the synonyms we find for passion, like zeal, fervor, fervent, enthusiastic, etc. refer to God's desire for our hearts, His excitement with our lives, or His heartbreak over our childish behavior. Other times, it refers to his determination not to let us go on forever in willful sin, throwing away our future, and our hope.

Let me illustrate: We spent a recent Sunday at Calvary Memorial Church, in Gering, NE and the Pastor said something that really tied up some loose ends for me. He said the history of Israel can be summed up in a cycle of three words: calling, compromising, and chastening.

Israel was meant to be a light for the rest of the world; set apart to point others to God. They were the first called. Unfortunately, the people struggled with being in, but not of, the world around them. Sound familiar?

They always started out loving God, being grateful for the last time He got them out of hot water; but sure enough over time, the Israelites slowly lost their passion for God and began sinking into the culture around them, to the point of taking on their evil practices of idol worship and human sacrifice.

They began to compromise, just a little at first, just leaving up one or two idols, just small acts of disobedience, (look, nothing happened, see, God doesn't even know what we are doing) then more and more, until the Israelite was unrecognizable from the people around him.

God gave them some rope, often for centuries, giving the people prophets to first plead with their hearts to return to God, then to offer dire warnings of what was coming down the pike if the Israelites didn't repent. Finally, to announce the consequences, the chastening, of refusing to obey.

It's tough love at its, toughest. You're a parent, right? Or a child. Think of it as a monumental count of "1 . . . . 2 . . . don't let me get to three young man . . . OK, have it your way, 3."

Read Ezekiel 5:13-15.

¹³ “Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I the LORD have spoken in my zeal.
¹⁴ “I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. ¹⁵ You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the LORD have spoken. NIV

This is one of those "3" moments when no matter what God did or said, the Israelites just weren't going to listen. They were depraved, doing vile and disgusting things inside the very temple of God, from sexual acts to child sacrifice. Hard to believe, isn't it? It's hard to believe anyone could fall so far. Yet, they did.

God had warned them and warned them, and the Israelites, chosen or not, were so mired in their evil desires that a major shake up was the only thing going to get them out of their own mess. They were in love with their own depravity.

Sometimes my husband and I read parts of the Old Testament and just want to scratch our heads at the stubbornness of this people. I mean, we're thinking, if God led me out of captivity with a pillar of fire at night, and a pillar of cloud during the day, fed me with manna, then meat, and made water come out of the rocks, I wouldn't need a sign every five minutes to follow him! Nor would I need to be told more than once that I was getting off track, right?

Or would I?

How often do I question God's attention to the details of my life when things are not turning out my way? How often do you?

Now, think about this: How much pleasure do you think Satan gets out of leading the called, the chosen ones, the light of the world, into compromise, even depravity?

Nearly every year some story breaks (substantiated or not) about a Protestant or Catholic leader involved in sexual impropriety on church property. Now in relation to the rest of the world, it's likely an extremely small percentage of the population, but it sure gets headlines, doesn't it? And why? Because these are some of the called.

If Satan can convince you that no one, no one, is sincere about their faith, then how easy do you think it will be to get you to start crossing your own line? Not a big line. Just a tiny, inconsequential one . . . at first.

Do you think the Israelites, or Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker, or countless Catholic priests, do you think they woke up one day and said, "today I will defile God's temple, or today I will take advantage of the trust of a child?" . . . or do you think a series of small compromises led to a completely distorted sense of right and wrong?

Understanding the cycle of calling, compromising, and chastening might clear up a few things in our lives, what do you think?

So, where are you in your faith right now? Ask yourself honestly. Are you being called? Are you compromising? Are you being chastened?

If you are being called, what is your response?

If you are compromising, this is your chance to re-evaluate on your knees, asking God to help you before things go all to pot.

If you are being chastened, are you going to thumb your nose, or welcome a wake up call? We don't waste our time chastening people we don't care about. It's the ones we love that we don't give up on, no matter what. It's those we invest our energy in, calling, and even chastening when needed.

God loves you. He will call you, and after giving you enough time to have it your own way and really get yourself turned in a knot if that's what you insist on doing, He will finally chasten you.

Where are you? What's your response?

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for refusing to let me stay in depravity! Help me to listen to your voice and see the beginning of compromise before it's too late. Help me to see Satan's plan to undermine my joy, my light, my calling and instead give me ears to hear Your call, and a spirit to obey. In Your name, amen.

Raise the battle cry and triumph over the enemy!

2011-10-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

Photo by Lauren Thamels, courtesy
of www.photoxpress.com

Welcome back to A Good Bible Study! Don't you love discovering A Passionate Love: the Relationship Between God and You? I do and I am so blessed to be sharing this time with you.

We are searching for synonyms of "passion" in the Word of God. We've seen so many examples of His passion for us, and His desire for our passionate response, that there can be no doubt of God's incredible love for each of us. Can you deny it any longer?

God is a poet and his language is love, pure, passionate love.

The Book of Isaiah is rich with prophetic Hebrew poetry. "The Hebrews used parallelism in poetry and prophecy as a literary technique to emphasize a particular thought. . . Prophetic poetry uses colorful images that point to further meanings . . .with the use of evocative language." Nelson Study Bible

Read Isaiah 42:13 and you will see what I mean:

"The Lord will march out like a mighty man,

like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;

with a shout he will raise the battle cry

and will triumph over his enemies." NIV

Think about any great war movie you've seen. Braveheart comes to mind for me. Who is the hero every time? Someone self-sacrificing. Someone brave. Someone so passionate about his people that he will suffer anything and everything for them. Someone who is able to stir up the passion of all those around him with his eloquence and zeal for their freedom!

That's what this verse is describing. Can you see it?

Is there anything going on in your life leading you to need a hero? A mighty man of valor? Someone to stir up your zeal? Do you need a champion?

Pray. He is fighting for you. Sometimes the victory is right in front of us, sometimes it's hard for us to see where the battle has been won. But we can trust we are not alone and we can call on His nature as the One who is passionate about us and our needs!

Father, be a mighty man for me. Stir up your zeal on my behalf and triumph over those who try to destroy your work in me! I am so grateful that I am not alone in the trials of life. That I have a champion in You. Help me to recognize Your hand in my life and see Your triumphs, instead of looking only for my own will to be done. Help me to follow You, my victor, my champion, my Mighty Man of Zeal and celebrate in Your victories! Amen

Love, Karen

Life is unfair but God is not

2011-10-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

Photo by Silo Nos, courtesy of
www.freephotoxpress.com

Hello! I am so glad you've come to A Good Bible Study. We are thick in the process of discovering A Passionate Love: The Relationship between God and You!

There are so many examples of God's passion for you and I in the bible, and just as many encouragements for each of us to delight just as passionately in the Lord. Today we are looking at

Psalm 119:139.

Let me ask you: have you ever felt like you have been unfairly punished?

Have you ever felt like you are trying to do the right thing, your heart is right, but someone only wants to misunderstand your intentions?

Have you ever been ostracized, left-out, ridiculed or criticized because you want to do what's right, or even because you love God and are following what you believe He wants for your life?

If so, then the Psalms are right up your alley.

David had been chosen as the next King of Israel. This didn't go over very well with the current King, unfortunately. Formerly like a son to King Saul, David was now hunted like an animal across the land. He survived in caves, and from the kindness of those in the kingdom who knew David had only tried to serve Saul well. But Saul only saw David as a threat, even though God first chose Saul as King, too.

The problem was that Saul got a taste of power and decided he didn't need God anymore. Saul was going to do things Saul's way. He figured if he got rid of God's next in line, all of his problems would be solved.

Have you ever noticed that when you are trying to live your life to serve God, even if you don't put any expectations on anyone else, there is always someone who tries to tear you down? Part of the reason is that when we change our behavior, it makes others around us uncomfortable. This can be due to a natural human desire to resist change, or it might be because seeking a higher level of behavior just highlights the negativity in someone else. In their eyes, you're making them look bad.

It's hard to continue to pretend your living a life of integrity, when faced with someone who actually is, you know what I mean?

Saul was only pretending to serve God but David was all in. The people were chanting David's name in the streets because David was out there defending the kingdom, while Saul was sitting at home in a terminal bad mood. David sang and played music praising God, and Saul was sneaking off to visit mediums and witches, pretending God didn't know what he was about. As you can expect, Saul didn't much appreciate David highlighting his own sinfulness. He wanted to get rid of David, so he didn't have to face himself, or God.

Read Psalm 119:139 "My zeal has consumed me, because my enemies have forgotten your words." KJV

David sings of his zeal (passion) having consumed him because of his anguish at the lack of love his enemies have for God. He wants God to renew his spirit and give him fresh hope in spite of the actions of his enemies meant to discourage and dishearten him.

Barnes Notes say, "My zeal hath consumed me - Margin, "cut me off." The word which is here translated "consumed" is rendered "cut off" "vanish," "destroyed." It means here, that he pined away; that his strength was exhausted; that he was sinking under the efforts which he had put forth as expressive of his deep interest in the cause of God and of truth"

It was breaking David's heart that Saul was trying to kill him, and David hadn't done anything wrong to Saul. David was perfectly willing to serve Saul, love him as a son-in-law and best friend to Saul's son, until God saw fit to remove Saul from the throne. David didn't want any part of hurting Saul, but Saul couldn't see past his own jealousy and envy.

Can you relate? Who can you turn to when even the people you thought loved you the most, praised you the highest, claimed to always be your friend, are the very ones talking behind your back and trying to ruin your life?

David turned to God. David reminded himself of God's love for him, God's strength when David had none left, and God's promise to bring good out of everything terrible going on. Let's follow his example:

Lord, there are things happening to people all over this world that are unfair, that don't make sense. How can it be when we are doing our best to serve you, obey you, and love you, that others don't see our hearts are sincere? Help us to remember that when no one else sees, You see. When no one else is my friend, You are. When I think I am alone, I am not for You are there. In His name, Amen.

Love, Karen

A passionate love: the relationship between God and you - The zeal of the Lord

2011-10-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Photo by JS Creatonzs.
Courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net

Welcome back to A Good Bible Study. We are passionate here - passionate about a passionate God!

This God of ours loves us with a love like no other. It never ends, it never dissipates, God never tells us "It's not you, it's me," is never too tired, too stressed, too angry to spend time with us, comfort us, listen to us, or advise us. He's passionate for us!

But, sometimes it seems like God is not listening to our prayers, not answering our prayers, not acting on our prayers. Sometimes we believe we are on our own and that we aren't even on God's radar.

This isn't some new phenomenon. People have been looking for the next sign since the beginning of time. Remember Adam and Eve? They had a unique relationship with God. God spent time with them physically in the Garden, walking, talking, and exchanging ideas. Can you imagine hanging out with God and having no doubt He is real? You would think that would make it easier to obey God, right?

God was cool. God was a lot of fun. Adam and God were good friends. In fact, God gave Adam only one rule, just one. Don't eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He didn't say take a little bite. He didn't say eat it if you think you've got a better plan. He didn't say check with the serpent for permission to eat it. He didn't say let your wife get confused about what God said and go along with it. He said, "Don't eat it. Don't. Eat. It. Don't touch it, don't smell it, don't hang around under it's branches, DON'T EAT IT."

Pretty clear, right? So how come it took about 5 minutes for Satan to convince Adam and Eve that God really didn't have their back and they should just go ahead and do whatever seemed right in their eyes? Of anyone in history, Adam and Eve should have been the ones to say, "Uh, I don't think so." Or how about, "I'm gonna double check with God because I know He said don't eat that." Now, I guess it is possible that Adam and Eve had never been exposed to a liar (kind of like that movie The Invention of Lying) so may be they were kind of gullible.

I'd like to let them off the hook like that and say that God sure is harsh. After all, He made them. . . So it's really His fault, right?

God did make them and He doesn't make stupid. So sorry, no dice. Consider this: Adam and Eve were created with the original DNA, uncontaminated and unmutated by chemical damage, environmental pollution, and poor diets. They were the most intelligent beings in the universe second to God. A far second, but still, they rocked.

Let's be honest. They wanted that fruit.

Satan only shows us what is in our own hearts. He dangles the bait, it's called temptation, and we either run to God, or we start trying to justify why we should go ahead and do what we know in our hearts is wrong.

Adam and Eve started playing the justification game. They deserved that fruit. After all, they did all the work in the Garden, Adam named all the animals and he and Eve tended the plants and oversaw the animals. God obviously didn't want what was best for them or He would share His precious Knowledge, right?

They were on their own and they needed to take what they wanted because God was never going to share the good stuff anyway! Besides, God hadn't even been to the Garden that day to talk with them so He probably wasn't even coming back. What happens in Eden stays in Eden . . . wrong.

Like most of our mistakes, the minute that fruit touched their lips, Adam and Eve got a whole lot of knowledge they wish they hadn't. Ever done that? Wished you had minded your own business and found out something you wish you hadn't? Ever wanted to turn back time and take it back? You and me and Adam and Eve and all the rest of us.

So, let's not kid ourselves that we are the first ones to feel like God is ignoring us. Let's not pretend we can take a time out from God and like a little one year-old child say, "If I can't see You, You can't see me." Let's get honest. Let's be real.

Now, about now you might be thinking that since Adam and Eve couldn't cut it, we are all doomed to fail. Let me tell you a story with a different ending.

In the time of Isaiah the prophet of God, there was a King of Assyria, named Sennacherib, who had conquered much of the land around Israel and was after the Israelites next. "The Assyrian Empire extended from Ur of Chaldes, up the Tigress-Euphrates valley toward Baghdad then across to the Mediterranean, taking in modern day Syria. So Assyria in the Bible included modern day Iraq and Syria" (Pat Robertson)

This guy had a lot of reason to be confident. He sent word to the King of Israel, Hezekiah, that he was coming down there to take care of business. Read 2 Kings 18 for the whole speech.

Reading this I had an image of this King's emissary doing a rap before the King of Israel, bragging about his King and talking smack against the God of Israel. Then he goes out and starts rapping to the people outside the palace, telling them in other words, "Who's your daddy?"

This emissary tells the Israelites not to believe their God will save them, because no one else's gods have saved any of the people King Sennacherib has conquered. He literally starts mocking God, saying what is a real insult in that time, "haven't you gotten the news", or "did you not hear", basically meaning, what, you didn't know I'm the biggest stick in the land? He was boasting that he, the King of Assyria was the only one with any power and they better get in line or be destroyed.

As you can imagine, the people of Israel were pretty concerned. I mean, they hadn't had a word from God for a while. May be God was out of the office.

So, King Hezekiah sent for word from Isaiah, the prophet of God.

God says through Isaiah, "Don't be afraid." I got this, God says. Don't you wish we had a prophet nowadays?

King Hezekiah is pretty relieved, and begins praising God.

¹⁵
And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

17 “It is true, LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 19 Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God.”

God answers the King's prayer with a promise, first to King Sennacherib, then to King Hezekiah.

To Sennacherib he says, and I am paraphrasing here, "Who do you think you are talking to? Let me tell you a little bit about the Holy One of Israel, son."

God reminds Sennacherib of all the ways he "reproached the Lord," bragging about how he was going to cut down all the trees and dry up all the waters of defense. Then God uses Sennacherib's own words against him, saying (paraphrase) "Did you not hear that I made this world, and that I allowed you to conquer these lands and made the people defenseless against you?"

God is in Sennacherib's face now, and God tells him He knows alllll about the smack he has been talking.

In fact, God uses Sennacherib's own methods of dealing with prisoner's of war against him, saying in 2 Kings 19:28, "I will put My hook into your nose and My bridle into your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came." Oh yeah, Sennacherib knew exactly what God was talking about. I love it. Nothin can set you down like a word from the Lord!

See, sometimes we read the Old Testament without any cultural references and we think, jeepers, God was harsh! We've got to look deeper, search out a study bible (I use the Nelson Study Bible, NKJV) and get the "whys" behind the "whats."

After this, God gives a promise to the Israelites. He says you are going to be fine. You are going to have plenty to eat and drink. You are going to rebuild and it's going to be good. I am going to make sure of this because "the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this."

Zeal, a synonym of passion.

See, the way in which Adam and Eve responded to temptation and the way in which King Hezekiah responded made all the difference. Adam and Eve assumed God wasn't looking and that God was keeping back something good from them. They went out on their own and we have been feeling alone ever since.

King Hezekiah was tempted to be afraid, to give in to the demands and the promises of the Assyrian King, but instead he went to the Lord. He prayed. He asked God to guide his decisions and believed God wanted the best for him. He waited for God's insight in the face of the taunting, demanding, ridiculing King.

What will you do today in the face of temptation? Will you seek God and believe He loves you passionately? Or will you hide your face and pretend He can't see you?

When I was at probably my lowest point in life, holding my son in my arms as he breathed out his last breath, I knew I had to make a decision. I was on the brink of temptation. My husband and I decided for our household, we would still serve the Lord.

I decided this in spite of the temptation to let my heart grow cold because He didn't answer my prayer to save my baby. I chose to believe God is good, even when my life seemed so bad; to believe in who He is, instead of what I could understand.

Soon after, I discovered I was pregnant again. I couldn't believe God would put me through this when I had just lost my boy. I prayed for a girl. I had a son. What was God thinking?

I will tell you. God is thinking about His zeal for you and me when we are only thinking about what we think we want and need. We are thinking about pain and He is thinking about restoration.

We named our son Joshua. I thank God for him every day.

Joshua 24:15

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

God, help me keep straight who is God and who is not. Amen

Love, Karen

What is the zeal of the Lord?

Good news: the end of the world is just the beginning

2011-10-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Photo by Karsten Fischbach,
courtesy of www.photoxpress.com

Hello again fellow God-lovers (and those who are still a bit unsure!) Are you feeling a little more passionate these days? That's what we are talking about in A Good Bible Study today! It's A Passionate Love: The Relationship Between God and You.

We've talked about many words in scripture that mean "passion." Most of the time the terms have referred to God's love for us, or our emotions or actions; but in 2 Peter 3, Peter describes the Day of the Lord and yes, it's a day reflecting great passion!

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up." 2 Peter 3:10 NKJV

Can you imagine the level of heat required to literally burn up and destroy the earth? Yikes. God says it's a fervent heat, a heat of passion.

What then? The earth is gone. Are you and I gone, as well? The answer for some of us is yes. But, if you are interested in sticking around for what follows, read what Peter says in verses 11-18:

^"11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?"

Good question! I know most of us think we have all the answers. Be more good than bad, right? How's that working for you based on God's definition of good (perfect) and bad (see the 10 commandments, and remember it refers to thoughts as well as actions) Still confident?

Peter continues:

"You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹² as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.^[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells."

Peter says there will be a new heaven and a new earth for each of us who love God and accept His forgiveness offered by His Son, Jesus Christ! What a deal!

However, Peter continues to remind us that forewarned is forearmed. We can either plan for this day, or we are planning for our own destruction. Like Benjamin Franklin said: a failure to plan, is a plan to fail.

In other words, you can keep on pretending that everything is going to continue on, business as usual, or you can accept that God has an ultimate plan for your life, and for this earth and all it's imperfections.

Peter agrees, saying, "¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵ Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶ He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." NIV

So there you have it : grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Peter isn't suggesting that on our own power and strength we somehow make ourselves perfect, blameless or spotless in God's eyes. It's the sacrifice that Jesus made, that purifies our self-centered hearts.

It comes down to this: do you believe in God, the real God, not one made up for your own convenience? Do you believe God is the ultimate authority on right and wrong? Do you believe you can ever be good enough, all the time, every day, to earn the badge of perfection?

In that case, do you accept that you need a Savior to pay the price of your imperfection? Do you accept that Jesus in all His perfection paid the price for your lack? Do you gratefully accept His gift?

Yes? Then will you spend the rest of your life loving Him for it? Following His example as best as you can? Seeking a new relationship with God who loves you so much, He sent His willing Son to clean up your sin so you can enjoy an eternity of peace, love, and joy in a new earth and heaven?

The only answers to these questions are Yes, or NO. There is no kind-of. Do you want a passionate love?

Here's how the Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines "fervent" or passion:

Synonyms: ardent, blazing, burning, charged, demonstrative, emotional, fervid, feverish, fiery, flaming, glowing, hot-blooded, impassioned, incandescent, intense, passional, passionate, perfervid, red-hot, religious, superheated, torrid, vehement, warm, warm-blooded, on fire!

Or . . . you can keep living as you have been:

Antonyms: cold, cool, dispassionate, emotionless, impassive, unemotional

Near Antonyms: detached, dry, impersonal, objective; reserved, undemonstrative

You choose.

Let's pray: God I want to be spiritually on fire! There is no middle ground that interests me. Fill me with Your passionate, incandescent, torrid excitement for living a life with You! A servant of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Passion: The greatest commandment

2011-10-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

Photo by Arvind Balarman, www.fotoexpress.com

Hello again my friends! Welcome to A Good Bible Study - our current topic is A Passionate Love: the relationship between God and you.

There are so many ways God expresses His passion for us! I love the incredibly expressive and eloquent words used to say "passion." Let's find more synonyms for this wonderful term so we can walk our walk instead of just talking our talk!

Let's read 1 Peter 4:8

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁸ And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”^[a]

Fervent, zealous, enthusiastic, with-all-that-you-have kind of love. This is a passionate love we are talking about here. Not a romantic passion, but a sincere, active, God-centered love that encompasses your whole heart.

Do you remember what is the greatest commandment? Read Matthew 22:36-40.

The greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, and the second is to love others as you do yourself. Here Peter reiterates that message, encouraging each of us to have fervent love for one another. A whole heart love. And why? Because it enables us to see the best in others, to assume the best of them, and to overlook one another's less than perfect personalities. Am I talking to anyone out there?

This specific love word is the Greek "agape." Interestingly, this word was rarely used in Greek literature prior to the New Testament. It refers to showing kindness to strangers without complaining about it, extending hospitality (putting traveling believers up) and being charitable to others. In this verse, it takes on a more special meaning, specifying volitional love versus emotional love. It's active. It's participatory. It's sacrificial.

Peter gets even more specific with the concept of passionate agape love: He says each of us are given gifts from the Holy Spirit. Contrary to popular belief, these gifts are not for our benefit, not for our pleasure or profit, but a tool by which to minister to one another as believers, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. As stewards, we are trustees of the gifts, not owners. We are managers of God’s gifts, entrusted to use our gifts to honor and glorify God. That’s powerful news because it goes against a lot of today's motivational teaching and even some preaching!

That means we are not blessed with talents and abilities so we can prosper financially, although there is nothing wrong in prospering in and of itself.

We tend to think that gifts and passions are given to us for us alone, to please us and to prosper us, to benefit our lives primarily and others secondarily. We consider our gifts to be our own personal property, meant to gain financial reward and prestige, the “wealth” of our age.

It's a lie. The same lie Satan told Adam and Eve and like us, they bought it! “What’s in it for me? What is God trying to keep back from me? Why shouldn’t I have a share in the glory?”

We forget we are stewards. It wasn’t our sacrifice that brought the Holy Spirit to comfort and bless us, it wasn’t our pain that paid the price of forgiveness on the cross, it wasn’t our power that enables us to do more than we are able. And as managers, we will be held accountable for using our gifts and whether we used it in the best interest of the One who gave it. Think on that for a moment.

So, how do we use our gifts in God's best interest? Peter tells us to use the mindset of a representative of God. He says if we speak and teach others, we need to do it as an oracle of God, with reverence for God’s Word, so our listeners will also respect it. He reminds us that we get into trouble when we start believing our strength comes from the gift itself, instead of the giver.

I know when I get caught up in all I can do, I lose strength and stamina. I lose heart. Paul asserts that by relying on God’s strength and power to minister your gift to others, not only are we honoring God, but we can be sure that when we need a powerful presentation or manifestation of talent, we are connected to the unending Source!

Let's pray:

Father, thank you for all the good gifts you've given me. Help me to remember they are a blessing, not a self-endowed right. Let me honor you with my attitude, as well as my gifts. In your name, amen.

Getting prayers answered

2011-10-11T10:56:00.000-07:00

Photo by Jamie Dupluss, courtesy www.photoxpress.com

Hello, my friend. Pull up a chair and warm yourself, it's time to delve into a Passionate Love: the relationship between God and you, and find out how to get prayers answered!

Are you starting to get it that God is passionate about you? Specifically you, not a general "you?"

He wants a relationship with you that is both like, and unlike, any other. Like any other in that He wants a two-way street. Imagine any relationship with someone you love. What do you do to express and increase that love?God wants that, as well.

He wants to spend time together in prayer both talking and listening, for us to make time for Him to read His Word, seeking wisdom and understanding, and to be proud to be with Him versus being a closet believer who acts one way in private and another in church.

He doesn't want us to fake it. He wants us to live it!

Unlike any other in that the subject of our passion is no mere human who can leave us or forsake us, but the Creator of Heaven and Earth who promises He will never leave or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)

He wants us to experience the passion and power of a real, living, active, relationship with the Most High.

Now, this is where it gets dicey, because it's so easy for all of us (me included) to slip off into seeing God as a personal genie, there to make our dreams come true regardless of what His vision and plans are for our lives. We too easily take advantage of His loving nature and begin to make demands.

"If you will only do this for me, then I will serve you forever."

"Lord, if you will just help me out of this self-created mess one more time, I promise I will change my ways."

"If you give me one more sign, then I will believe in You."

"If you don't start making things turn out my way, I'm giving up on You."

"If you really loved me, you would not let this happen to me."

It gets dicey because God really does want the best for us. He wants to give us all that we need and even quite a bit of what we desire. He wants to bless us and answer our prayers.

The problem is that sometimes what we pray for is not going to give us what we really need in the long run, or what someone else really needs in the long run. So here is the dilemma.

How does a good parent say, "no," "not now but may be later," or "I know you think this is the best for you, but I am working out something even better," or even, "I know this hurts and doesn't make any sense to you, but it's got to happen this way for a bunch of reasons you just are not going to be able to accept or understand in this lifetime," without incurring the anger, hurt feelings, or even temper, of a child?

It's easier if the child believes the parent is overall good, loving, and would not do anything to intentionally hurt her. That the parent wants the best for that child, and would die for him, if necessary. That like it or not, the right thing to do is obey, and trust that even if she doesn't understand, the parent does, and something good will come from this situation.

Can you, as a parent or as a child, imagine this scenario?

We are the child, and God is the loving parent who is willing to do the job of parent, instead of trying to please us constantly like an over-achieving best friend. Sometimes (often) allowing us to feel disappointment, anger, and anguish for reasons that at times, we just don't understand.

We can choose to believe God is good, that He loves us, that He does have a good plan for us, and even when He does not intervene to prevent what hurts us, that He will bring something good from our pain. We can believe that He will comfort us, even when we don't understand why life does not seem to be working out the way we want it to.

Or, we can choose to stomp our feet and demand "Why isn't what I want happening!?"

I heard a self-defining comment at a sermon Sunday at StoneRidge Community Church in Decorah, IA. The pastor basically said that we want God to change our situation, but He is more interested in changing us.

See, we are interested in what's happening to us, but God is interested in what is happening in us. I think much of what we get so worked up about is keeping us from having what we want: answered prayers. Our focus is off.

According to the Word of God, we can have exactly what we want, as long as we are wanting the right things. What does that mean?

Well, do you really believe God wants you to have an expensive new car? May be He does want to bless you that way, but I bet His first concern is your heart, your intention, your financial behavior, your treatment of your family, and as for having a car, isn't the true need transportation and not an $85,000 trinket?

Hmm, I am getting in your business now, aren't I?

May be He wants you to get married, but it might not be to that particular man or woman who is going to cause you nothing but heartbreak down the road.

May be He is shutting the door to that job you think is the answer to all of your prayers, because He is creating a situation in which you will become so desperate for His answer and not your own, that He can bring you into a job that will end up being exactly what you need, but one which you would not have even considered on your own.

So, the real answer is when does God answer prayers? Read James 5:16 .

“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” NKJV

What is effective? A prayer that is answered and is active.

What is fervent? Come on now, you know this one. Passionate, sincere, humble, believing in His ability and desire to answer you.

What is righteous? "It is living by every word of God (Matthew 4:4)

So the prayer of the righteous is answered . . . the prayer of one living by every word of God is answered.

Living by every word of God is not living perfectly, but living forgiven. It is not living without making mistakes, but living with a heart for God's will in your life. It's seeking His will first thing every morning, and it's living according to that will as you understand it.

Neither does living by the word of God mean living in fear of punishment. It means being truly sorry when you have behaved wrongly, been hurtful to others, or held a grudge, and telling Him so. It means getting to know God and doing your best to show Him love, in return for His. It means wanting what He wants, which is the best for your life.

Let me ask you, if your daily prayer was altered from "Lord, make my plans work out," to "Lord, I trust your plan for me today," do you think your level of satisfaction with your life might change?

Can you imagine praying, "Father, open my eyes to your will in my life, and give me a heart that desires only what is good for me?"

Taking yourself off the throne of your life, and putting God there instead takes a leap of faith. If you want a passionate relationship with the Most High, if you want your prayers answered, if you want to enjoy your life instead of seeing all the ways you are not getting your way, then it's worth it.

Let's pray:

Father, I've often stepped into Your role as King, in my life. I am sorry. I want Your will to rule my desires and my actions from now on. I want my prayers answered. I want to love what You love, and to enjoy the excitement and passion for life that only following You will give me! Take my life and make it Yours from now on. Help me to pray each day, and all day, "Not my will, but Yours." Amen

Love, Karen

What does a passionate love do?

2011-09-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

Photo by Andrei Merkulov, courtesy of www.photoexpress.com

Welcome! I am so glad to see you here in A Good Bible Study! We are soaking ourselves in A Passionate Love: the relationship between God and you. But, what does a passionate love do?

We've begun to search the bible for synonyms of the word "passion." They are sprinkled throughout God's Word like an invigorating spring shower.

I love knowing the passion I have for life, for living, and for loving, comes straight from the heart of God! God is passionate and wants to see you express that passion actively!

You know, one of the first books I read as a new Christian was Paul's letter to the Romans. Some people think Paul's letter is a sort of what not to do, for Christians. I disagree! It reads to me more like the way to live passionately for Christ!

Let's read Chapter 12, verses 9-11. I included three translations so you can really get a feel for Paul's message. These passages follow Paul's encouragement to all Christians, to use the gifts given to each of us by the Holy Spirit.

That's right. Gifts. You've got 'em.

Don't you know when you recognize that Jesus is the Son of God, sent to buy you and me out of slavery to sin (redeemed), and that He not only died for our sins but was raised from the dead just as the Scripture foretold - did you know at that point of sincere belief that you receive the Holy Spirit, as a bonus!?

And that's not all! The Holy Spirit doesn't come empty handed - He brings gifts! And it's our job to put them to use! Read Romans 12:6-8 for a listing of some of the gifts later. For now, let's continue with zeal and passion!

What does it mean to love God, and His children, passionately? Romans 12:9-11 describes such a love: it's love in action! (I bolded the words that mean passion.)

Romans 12:9-11 New International Version (NIV)

⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Romans 12:9-11 New Living Translation (NLT)

⁹ Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. ¹⁰ Love each other with genuine affection,^[a] and take delight in honoring each other. ¹¹ Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.^[b]

Romans 12:9-11 The Message (MSG)

^9-10Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
^11-13Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Paul is talking about really loving passionately, self-sacrificially and without hypocrisy! He wants us to mean it. In Romans 12:12-21 Paul continues to get real specific on this passion thing:

Romans 12:12-21

New International Version (NIV)

¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.^[a] Do not be conceited.
¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
¹⁹ Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”^[b] says the Lord.
²⁰ On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”^[c]
²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

You know, this is kind of a check list:

"What do I do in this situation?" Look in Romans 12!

"How should I respond to this person?" Look in Romans 12!

"What should I do next?" Go to the mattresses! What? No - look in Romans 12! (I admit I have watched You've Got Mail too many times.)

Let's pray: Lord, thank you for giving us something specific to get our teeth into. Sometimes I just want to know what to do! Romans is that answer. Give us insight into our situations today, and into the people we meet. Help us to love passionately, sincerely, and actively, in Your name, as Your representatives. Amen

Passion in action: Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila in Acts 18

2011-09-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

Photo by Arvind Balaraman, courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net

Welcome again to A Good Bible Study, where together, we are exploring A Passionate Love: the relationship between God and you!

I can't wait to share with you about a really cool trio of friends: Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila in Acts 18. It's truly passion in action!

Let's start by reading Acts 18:24-28.

This is one of my favorite passages and if you've got any desire at all to share God's passionate love and grace to anyone, it might soon become a favorite of yours, as well.

^"24Meanwhile, there was a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, who came to Ephesus. He was a cultured and eloquent man, well versed and mighty in the Scriptures.

²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and burning with spiritual zeal, (the NKJV says fervent in spirit) he spoke and taught diligently and accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he was acquainted only with the baptism of John.
²⁶He began to speak freely (fearlessly and boldly) in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him with them and expounded to him the way of God more definitely and accurately.
²⁷And when [Apollos] wished to cross to Achaia (most of Greece), the brethren wrote to the disciples there, urging and encouraging them to accept and welcome him heartily. When he arrived, he proved a great help to those who through grace (God's unmerited favor and mercy) had believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Christ as Lord and Savior).
²⁸For with great power he refuted the Jews in public [discussions], showing and proving by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah)." Amplified Bible

So, here's this guy, Apollos. He's grown up in Greece, so he probably looks and sounds like a gentile, though he is a Jewish Christian. Like all Greeks, he is an educated man. As a Jew, he's also well-read in the Scriptures. So, if anyone is going to know what the Old Testament says about the coming Messiah (Jesus), it's Apollos.

Someone had gotten ahold of this guy and shared the truth of Jesus's coming with him, and he was on fire about it! And Apollos knew that any Jewish scholar should be able to review the Scripture and come up with the same inevitable conclusion, that only Jesus could be the Messiah. So, I figure Apollos' opinion was that if knowing all this, you still couldn't put two and two together, you must have been knocked on the head as a child, you know what I mean?

The thing I love about Apollos, was that he hadn't even met Jesus. He didn't even know all that had gone down, he just knew Jesus fulfilled the prophecy and that alone was exciting enough! Peter says Apollos knew only the baptism of John, but so much more happened since!

But, isn't it exciting that not having all the information didn't stop Apollos from sharing what he knew so far? He didn't say, "Well, before I get excited about this and spread the awesome news, I'm going to go back to school and learn everything there is to know about Jesus." Neither did he go ask someone in authority if he should share his good news. Because I think that's what a lot of us do.

We know Jesus is the Messiah, we have had some personal life-changing experience, but we are afraid of what people will think if we share it. We think we need to get a PhD in Scripture before we've got any business sharing what we've learned so far. We think we've got to get someone in authority to give us the thumbs up before we talk about it!

I'm not suggesting any of us, educated or not, proclaim to be the ultimate authority on Jesus. I'm not suggesting you purport yourself as knowing one thing more than you actually do. I'm saying only you can share your personal experience with Jesus Christ; only you can explain the effect He's had on your life, and only you can share your insights gleaned from reading His Word, just as I am doing now, with all of you.

No one can argue that, and you don't have to defend it. It just is. Just like Apollos knowing the Scripture backwards and forwards, and that Scripture could only point to Jesus as Messiah. It was what it was; what it is.

So, Apollos didn't wait around for permission to share what he knew to be true. In fact, Peter says Apollos was fervent in spirit, he was burning with spiritual zeal. He was gonna jump up and shout the news!

Now, Apollos wasn't exactly ignorant, to be sure. He really did have the equivilant of a PhD in Scripture. He knew his stuff. Nothing was getting by this guy.

But he didn't know the rest of the story. He only knew the baptism of John, and nothing about the Holy Spirit or the work of the apostles, or what he should do if he couldn't convince the Jewish leaders of the truth.

He knew the Messiah had come, but he didn't know what that meant for both the Jews and the Gentiles. Luckily for Apollos, he ran into Priscilla and Aquila.

Priscilla and Aquila were prominent leaders in the early church. They were a husband and wife team, and contrary to Jewish tradition, Aquila was not the leader, or Pastor, with Priscilla merely a wife helping out in her husband's ministry.

Scripture mentions the pair 6 times and in four of those instances (Acts 18:18, 26; Rom 16:3; 2 Tim 4:19), Priscilla is mentioned first, followed by Aquila, which bible scholars familiar with the style of Greek writing, suggest indicates an equal role. It is likely that in some areas Priscilla was in charge, while in other situations, Aquila took the lead.

This is only one of many examples in which God shows us that women are a vital resource in Christian church leadership. So take heart, ladies, you can be an Apollos, too.

Aquila and Priscilla heard Apollos preaching, and they invited him to their home. They recognized the passion he had for Jesus, and realized Apollos was missing some vital information.

Did they contradict him in public? Did they talk about him behind his back? Did they undermine his ministry? Did they pull him aside and let him know he wasn't good enough to preach because he didn't know as much as they? Praise God, no! What a resource that would have been lost had that been the case.

Neither did they say, "Oh well, he doesn't have some vital information, but he is passionate and enthusiastic, so let him do what he's doing." That would have been just as much a diservice to both Apollos and to his listeners, as if they'd ostrasized him.

Instead, Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos home and fed him, then filled in the missing pieces. The Greek says they took him aside to teach him undisturbed. Can you imagine the joy of Apollos when his new friends shared what had all happened after John the Baptist announced the arrival of the Messiah?

Apollos was so excited about this news, so enthusiastic to work with other passionate Christians, he couldn't wait to get back to Greece and get involved. Peter says Priscilla and Aquila sent word to the leaders of the church to welcome Apollos and off he went, becoming "a great help."

Can you imagine the outcome if Apollos had been too full of pride to accept their instruction? What if he had said, "Hey, I know a whole lot more about Scripture than you, and I am doing just fine on my own. I like running my own show, so thanks, but no thanks."

Apollos was fervent, passionate, zealous for the Good News of Jesus Christ and so he wanted to know more. He was willing to be taught, and he was willing to spend time learning and working with those who had the experience he lacked.

I love this story for so many reasons! What about you? What speaks to your heart? Is it the passion for Apollos? Is it his determination to get out there and share the Truth, even though he didn't know everything?

Is it God's example of a women in Christian leadership? Is it the genuine grace and love of God evident in both Priscilla and Aquila, who stoked the fire of Apollos instead of shutting him down? Or is it Apollos' desire to learn, and be useful to God?

Spend some time thinking about where you fit in this story, and what you can do with what you already know. What more do you need to learn?

Let's pray: Father, thank you so much for leaders and teachers who point us to you, who encourage the gift you have placed in us, who share their insight and knowledge without extinguishing our passion to be of service to you. Give us each the courage to share what we do know, even if we don't have all the answers.

The fervent desire of Jesus

2011-08-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Photo by Gary, courtesy of Photoexpression.com

Hello again - it's so good to spend time with you today in A Good Bible Study! If you are sticking with this study of "A Passionate Love: the relationship between God and you" then you are probably, like me, ready to lighten up a bit!

We've shared quite a bit about the negative side of passion, and how we can get our passion mixed up with ambition, anger, or false spirituality. I'm ready to hear more about the passion of our Lord, for you and for me!

I searched for synonyms for "passion" in my Nelson Study Bible, New King James Version, which is the main resource for this study, and I found the following: fervent and fervently; delight; delighted; and delights. During the next few lessons, we will delve into the passages containing these passionate terms.

Now, we've got to start with Jesus! I love this passage, in particular, from Luke 22:15.

"On the night of the Passover Jesus sat down with the apostles and said, 'With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.'”

I love the way the Weymouth New Testament translates it: Earnestly have I longed to eat this Passover with you.

Do you hear the love and yearning in this passage? Fervent desire, desired . . . earnestly, longed. Repeating words to magnify the intensity of the meaning is called an anaphora. Do you see how each repetition or synonym lends weight to the importance of their relationship? It's like an exclamation point!

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible contains one of the most descriptive explanations of why Jesus was so emphatic about eating this particular meal with His disciples. It says, for one, "because he should eat it 'with' his disciples; an emphasis lies on the phrase, 'with you', to whom, and not so much to the passover," itself.

Jesus wasn't just hungry. He wasn't just glad to be participating in one of the most important Jewish traditions. Jesus has a bond with these particular individuals, like to no one else. He is preparing to suffer intense physical and emotional pain for not only their sakes, but for each of us in the world, and like anyone, Jesus wanted to spend his last hours with those he loved, and with those who would carry on His work.

In addition, Jesus knew that this was the Passover, the one that immediately precedes His fulfillment of the promise of the Passover: salvation. Once Jesus left that table, He knew He would be arrested, horrifically tortured, and nailed to a cross until His human body was dead. He was ready to do what it was He came to do: give His life in exchange for ours.

Gill's says it this way: He looked forward to this night "since hereby justice would be satisfied, the law would be fulfilled, sin atoned for, and the salvation of his elect obtained; for whom he bore the strongest affection, and whom he loved with a love of complacency, and whose salvation he most earnestly desired, and even sufferings for the sake of it."

Oh, to be there in the morning of the third day, Sunday, when Mary found the tomb empty and her Lord alive!

Read it for yourself. It's almost like the ending of an incredible movie that gets even better when you discover the story is true!

John 20 New International Version

"The Empty Tomb

1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

17Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may^a believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

Lord, thank you for loving us so earnestly, so passionately, so willingly! I pray that each of us reading this study, experiences the depth of your love today! In the name of Jesus, amen

Worshipping the Creator, or the creation?

2011-08-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

Photo by Graurraz Vanionut. Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Welcome to A Good Bible Study! Our topic is A Passionate Love: the relationship between God and you.

If you have been reading the New Testament for a while, you've probably noticed that many of Paul’s letters contained some kind of response to the doctrine of false teachers. It seems there is always some new group passionate about a secret way to attain spiritual heights, but having nothing actually to do with the Spirit of God. Paul particularly criticized the Gnostics, who focused on either exploiting the pleasures of the body, or denying them.

Gnostics taught that "special" knowledge was required to break from the physical realm into the spiritual, thereby negating the power of God or the need for Him. Only through their rituals and recitations could you really become spiritual. Sound familiar? And you thought the New Age was new.

Gnostics had two ways of thinking: Those who worshipped pleasure believed that since the body was not spiritual, you could do what you wanted with it and it wouldn’t affect your spirit or salvation. Yet, those who believed the body was evil, punished their bodies with torture and denial of basic comfort in an effort to earn spirituality. Both views are in direct conflict with Scripture, focusing either on earning salvation, or living both carnally and spiritually at once, which is not possible.

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other." Matthew 6:24

God loves us and what He created is good. He said so. We are body, spirit, and soul and what we do to one intimately affects the other. We cannot earn, or learn, salvation or spirituality. It is a result of our passionate relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:18-32 describes God’s response to those who claim to be wise and sophisticated, who worship God's creation instead of the Creator.

All of creation is not God, but is evidence of God. Since the earliest of times however, there have been those who turn away from our Father who has all the power to help, as well as the love and desire to do so, and instead worship the proof of a Creator, as if it could do one thing to change our lives.

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven, Paul says, against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of those who have had the truth revealed to them, and yet suppress the truth.

“¹⁸ But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.^[i] ¹⁹ They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. ²⁰ For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

²¹ Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. ²² Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. ²³ And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
²⁴ So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. ²⁵ They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. ²⁶ Romans 1:18-26

Now we might say that we are above worshipping and praying to a statue, or a tree, but are we?

There are those who kill people in protest of others who destroy the habitat of the owl or hunt whale; those who blow up abortion clinics (and the people within) to protest the killing of our unborn children; those who lose their health, livelihood, and families in pursuit of drugs; spend hours each day searching for information about their favorite celebrity online, or playing Internet games from the moment they get home till late into the night while their spouse and children live with a virtual ghost; carry on an addicted affair with pornography; or live every moment for the next financial deal.

Are we too sophisticated for our own good?

“Therefore God gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever, Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions.”

Lord, thank you for giving us signs of who You are everywhere we look. From the glory of your design for everything both alive and inanimate, to the beauty and splendor in each day, your creation sings of Your passion for each of us. Help us to be truly wise, and not just wise in our own eyes! Give us a passion for You! In the name of Jesus, amen

Set our minds on things above 2

2011-08-27T10:59:00.000-07:00

Photo by Graurraz Vanionut. Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Hello again! Welcome back to A Good Bible Study. Our current topic is "A Passionate Love: the relationship between God and you."

We have been discovering the difference between passion that serves God, and that which serves sin (at it’s root, Satan.) We've asked, how can we express passion in a way that delights God?

Remember that in Col. 3:5, Paul described five specific examples of passion gone wrong, using the former practices of the Colossians as an example that can just as easily apply to those of us here and now. The first was fornication (read the post "Set our minds on things above 1.")

The remaining four are (clarified by various commentaries ) uncleanness; passion or inordinate affection; evil desire; and covetousness. Uh . . . what? Let's try and put this into our language.

Uncleanness doesn't mean you need to shower more often. It means behaving in a manner, thinking, and saying things that are just plain nasty, filthy, hateful, disgusting, and/or amoral, etc. It means "impurity, or moral defilement; particularly to those impurities which he proceeds to specify in
Romans 1:26."

It's whatever made your granny wash your mouth out with soap, and then some.

Passion or inordinate affection isn't referring to the passionate love between yourself and God, or you and your spouse. That's a wonderful, life-affirming passion given by God Himself for us to enjoy! No, this actually refers to the Greek word πάθος pathos, meaning vile affections, or lust.

Lusting is passion gone haywire! It is not desire for your spouse. It is not a yearning to honor God, to help others, or to be take a God-given talent to a level of greatness that only perserverance and determination can achieve.

How can I say this? Lust involves mentally using the visual form of others for your own internal sexual gratification. What's wrong with that, you say?

God says imagining yourself sexually engaging is not only the same as physically doing so, in His eyes, it is adultery if you are married, fornication if you are not, and eventually leads to taking action. Your behavior follows your thoughts, and sin begins in the heart.

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45

If you think about it honestly, looking at another human being with lust is so disrespectful (if not abusive.) Ever felt your skin crawl and turned around to see someone mentally undressing you?

It's disrespectful to your spouse who feels humiliated - and yes, he or she knows despite how sly and sneaky you think you are. It's also disrespectful to your future spouse, who wants to delight and scintillate you with his or her body, not compete with what you've worked up in your own mind or have come to believe through watching porn is more exciting. You think you are creating passion, but in fact pornagraphy steals passion.

Over time, you'll need more and more explicit and degrading images to attain the same level of excitement and eventually, your desire for your spouse actually decreases, not increases. Find out more here.

Finally, it's disrespectful to yourself. You deserve God's best and it's available once you focus on allowing God to transform you into a man or woman who is ready for the kind of love God can provide, if you let Him.

I know this post has been another lengthy one, but let me quickly give you the final two examples of destructive passion: evil desire, meaning all of the above and below, as well as wanting anything that harms oneself or anyone else; and covetousness, or greed, which is idolatry.

Greed means loving things, be it money, possesions, status, achievement, etc., more than God, and covetousness isn't merely liking something, or really enjoying doing an activity; it is a strong desire to take something away that rightly belongs to someone else.

In other words, you value the object more than you care about the effect your actions have on anyone else. So, in essence, you are worshipping that object or event. Your desire for it supercedes all else. It is theft, but it is more than that.

The Topical Bible Dictionary says "Its heinousness, doubtless, is accounted for by its being in a very real sense the root of so many other forms of sin, e.g. departure from the faith (1 Timothy 6:9, 10); lying (2 Kings 5:22-25); theft (Joshua 7:21); domestic trouble (Proverbs 15:27); murder (Ezekiel 22:12); indeed, it leads to "many foolish and hurtful lusts" (1 Timothy 6:9). Covetousness has always been a very serious menace to mankind, whether in the Old Testament or New Testament period. It was one of the first sins that broke out after Israel had entered into the promised land (Achan, Jos 7); and also in the early Christian church immediately after its founding (Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5); hence, so many warnings against it. A careful reading of the Old Testament will reveal the fact that a very great part of the Jewish law-such as its enactments and regulations regarding duties toward the poor, toward servants; concerning gleaning, usury, pledges, gold and silver taken during war-was introduced and intended to counteract the spirit of covetousness."

Now, contrast the preceeding with the wordly view of passion:

The media tells us that if we are passionate about something, we have an obligation to give everything we have to that interest or object, and that to neglect our relationship with God, our family, or our responsibilities is a further validation of the importance of the focus of that passion.

But the truth is that we are merely serving the passion, instead of the One who designed us with not only the passion, but a purpose and a way to express that passion or drive honorably.

God wants to direct the passionate nature He created in us to serve Him, to worship Him, to praise Him, and to honor Him. Passion is a gift, or a curse, depending on if we see it as a "god", or as a means to honor God.

Let’s pray: Lord, there are so many confusing messages in our world. Help us to set our minds on the things You value, that You are passionate about. In the name of Jesus, amen.

A slave of Christ

2011-08-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hello again. It's good to see you in A Good Bible Study: A Passionate Love: the relationship between God and you.

Our last lesson was pretty heavy. Sometimes good medicine is hard to swallow, but good for us all the same.

Today, I wanted to simply share with you something my husband discovered. I think it will mean something to you and remind us all of something very important while we are learning about who God loves, as well as what He does not.

My husband has been reading the bible from the beginning, and at times it has been slow going. Much of the Old Testament is a history lesson, and pretty dry at that. But when you get to the New Testament, things really pick up!

He has been reading with the goal of discovering God's love in a personal way. He wants to understand it, accept it, and feel it. I can relate. Can you?

Today he read the first letter Paul wrote to his fellow believers: the book of Romans. He got as far as the first sentence, and was struck by the importance of Paul's introduction. Paul was announcing who he was and what he was about.

He said, "This letter is from Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach His Good News."

A slave of Jesus Christ. A SLAVE of Jesus Christ. Do you get the meaning of this word?

From the meeting on the road to Damascus, Paul gave himself up to Jesus Christ, to do whatever required, no matter the sacrifice, no matter the cost to himself.

What kind of love inspires a man to willingly become another's slave?

Think about the life Paul led up to that point. He valued his financial and social position, his ability to follow the Law without error, and his skill and fervor at hunting down, imprisoning or killing, Christians.

What had he gained by all this? In comparison to his experience with meeting the Lord Jesus Christ one to one . . . nothing. It had become filthy rags to Paul. Nothing would satisfy him again but the love of God through Christ.

What would it take for you to become a slave of Christ? What does that mean to you?

Let's pray: Lord, I want to know the love that Paul knew in You, and from You. My heart is open. In the name of Jesus, amen.

A Passionate Love: the relationship between God and You - Set our minds on things above

2011-08-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

Photo by Graurraz Vanionut,
courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Hello again. I am so glad we are discovering God's passionate love, and our passionate response to him, in A Good Bible Study. Today's topic is Setting Our Minds on Things Above.

What is the difference between passion that serves God, and that which serves sin (at it's root, Satan)? How can we express passion in a way that delights God?

In Col. 3 Paul writes in verse 2 to set our minds on things above, not on the things of the earth. I notice God is always giving us these polar opposite choices: life, death; good, evil; blessings, curse; heavenly concerns, earthly desires; Christ, carnality. He's never wishy washy about it either, so be fore warned.

In verse 5 Paul breaks down five specific examples of passion gone wrong, using the former practices of the Colossians as an example that can just as easily apply to those of us here and now. You might not want to hear it, it is certainly not politically or socially correct in this day and age, but if you are serious about living a passionate life that delights our God, you'll be willing to prayerfully consider God's view on the behavior that results from a misuse of passion.

I ask you to remember God that loves you, and like any good parent He is willing to offend you if that's how it has to be, with an honest discussion regarding choices and behaviors which are ultimately harmful, no matter how tempting:

1. Fornication - sexual behavior with anyone other than, or in addition to, your spouse - defined as one person of the opposite sex (like it or not.) The Andrew Wommack bible commentary defines it this way

"The English word 'fornication' comes from the Greek word PORNEIA and alludes to

any illicit sexual intercourse including adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse

with a close relative or with animals. (Lev. 18). Our English word "pornography" is derived from PORNEIA plus the Greek word GRAPHE which means a writing or picture involving unlawful intercourse. Pornography is wrong because it is looking or lusting after someone else's nakedness. The Scripture states that our own wife or husband is our nakedness (Lev. 18:8; Gen. 2:25)."

We like to pretend it's alright if we are only thinking about it, or fantasizing; that imagining the act is not bad, but really a "healthy outlet." In contrast, in Matthew 5:28 Jesus says, "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

And in Jesus Matthew 15:18-20 says, "But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, blasphemies. These are what make a man ‘unclean’ not eating with unwashed hands."

We as a society don't want to hear this. We are like children wanting to run amok in the candy store with no limits. We see only our ferocious appetites with no ability to look to the future consequences of a sick belly and exhausted body.

I've felt the sting of following my sexual whims and have suffered the consequences, as I bet so have many of you. I've learned from those mistakes, but not without cost. And I've justified my own misbehavior as a "payback" for someone else's wrong.

Even when I was given good advice, I rationalized my desire to sin by claiming that it's the best way to learn and so therefore, I wanted to learn from my own mistakes, which I think simply means "I know it's wrong but I'm going to do it anyway and I'll pay the piper later."

Honestly, I didn't learn much at all, until I gave my life to God, to live His way instead of following whatever "spiritual" teaching flattered my ego and my self-serving desires that day.

Let me give you a comparison to ease the pain. I like to compare everything to parenting, because we've all been either parents or children, so who can't relate to that image?

When I build a fence around my yard, both my children and I can relax and enjoy ourselves fully, because we are protected from outside elements from coming in, and my children are prevented from venturing farther than is safe.

In terms of sexuality, marriage is the safe fence. Marital commitment is a safe fence. Mutual respect and love within that marriage is a safe fence. Does that mean no one will ever hurt you if you respect these boundaries? Of course not! Anyone who is determined to sin will find a way to do so regardless of what they disingenuously promised. That fence is only as strong as the building material used.

We've got to take responsibility to choose our mates wisely, to keep God as our source of guidance and strength within our marriage, to do what we each can to ensure those boundaries stay healthy.

And, here's a difficult one for many of us. We've got to give ourselves permission to be passionate with our spouse, and let one another enjoy that passion, instead of comparing one another to photo-shopped, idealized images in books and movies. Think about that for a moment. Are you passionate with your spouse, and do you allow your spouse to be passionate with you?

Now, does this answer the question for those who feel they are born with homosexual desires or other passions that Scripture defines as sinful? I can only venture to empathize with the dilemma, and compare it to the fact that we are all born with a tendency toward a particular sin(s), even as we are all born to grow into sexual, passionate adults. Does that make our choices any easier? Not easier, but hopefully simpler. God says sexual sin is so overwhelmingly tempting that we should not even play around trying to resist it half-heartedly, but just run from it.

Am I the ultimate authority on this matter - absolutely not. So, I will share Who is, and what He has to say:

No matter the what, or why, or how, we have only one recourse, only one way out, only one path to our true passionate natures: to give ourselves to God daily (sometimes minute by minute) to lead us away from expressing that passion in ways that God defines as harmful to our bodies, minds, and souls. That's it. That's all. Give ourselves to Him, ask Him to lead us away from temptation and deliver us from evil. If it's up to us alone, we are lost.

I'm going to save the last 4 examples for the next post. They are definitely shorter than this, but I wanted to give this topic the time it deserves, because in one way or another, I think this is the most common struggle for us all, be it in our outer behavior or inner thought life.

Let's pray: Lord, You gave us this wonderful gift: passion. You gave us a desire and a fenced playground in which to fully enjoy it. Help us to overcome what has become of Your good gift. Help us to be the passionate lovers of life that You intend - and not settle for distorted pleasures that erode our souls in the name of sophistication. Everything You created in me is good - as created, as intended. Give me a passion that has no sin and let me enjoy it Lord! Lead us away from temptation, and deliver us from evil, for Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, amen.

Burning with passion - for Christ

2011-08-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hello! Welcome back to A Good Bible Study and today's topic in the ongoing study of our passionate relationship with God: Burning with passion - for Christ.

I looked the word “passion” in the index of my Nelson Study Bible, to see which verses contain the reference and came up with three: 1 Corinthians 7:9; Colossians 3:5; and Romans 1:26.

Passion can be a gift, or a burden, depending on how you handle it. 1 Cor. 7:9 specifically refers to hhe distraction and danger of burning with passion with no righteous outlet to satisfy or relieve your desire.

Paul uses himself as an example, referring to the fact that he is so passionate about serving Jesus, he has no room in his life, or even desire, for marriage, and he wished we all felt that way. But Paul recognized his lack of need for marriage and physical love was a gift from God, and let's face it, not everyone is so gifted.

To try and force yourself (as an adult) to remain single (and celibate) when you truly desire marriage and the accompanying benefits, is to torture yourself and subject yourself to unnecessary temptation. Paul describes it as burning with passion.

Don’t be misled to think passion is ungodly, or something to avoid. God loves our passion, for He is a passionate God.

When you are passionate about someone or something, you are willing to put everything else aside for it. You think about it all the time, it’s importance supersedes everything else. You would die for it. You would give up whatever is necessary for it. That’s how God feels about us.

John 3:16 "For God so love the world (meaning the people in the world) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

Jesus, being of the same substance as God, and His only begotten Son, feels the same way. If He didn't, He would not have suffered, died, and rose again for our sakes.

In John 17:19-23 Jesus says, “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be as one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. . . that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

Can you imagine being loved by God, in the same way God loves His only begotten Son, Jesus? Think about that for a moment.

Now, can you imagine being so passionate you are willing to ask, and allow, Your Son to suffer for our sakes? Let that blow your mind for a bit.

Finally, can you imagine being so passionate about God, and about all of us, that You agree, and wholeheartedly? Jesus did.

So let there be no mistake, God is the author and giver of passion, but like anything good, it can directed in a positive manner, or misdirected to our own doom. Passion without boundaries is just chaos leading to destruction.

Satan loves to try and convince us that passion is the most important aspect of being human. “If it feels good, do it.” “Just do it.” “Go for it.” In fact, he really gets a kick out of convincing us that the most important thing we should be passionate about is money. Often, we neglect our families in the pursuit of social achievement or financial reward and call it a desire to provide for them.

Do we want to provide for our families? Of course, yes! But, I'm not talking about responsibility, I'm talking about being honest with what your goals and desires really are, and only you can answer that question.

It's because we are created in the image of God, we are passionate, like God. But, like all good things, the gift of passion is meant to enhance our relationship with God, not distract us from Him, or from those we love.

Passion with the drive to honor God is a delight to Him (one of the definitions of passion), but passion perverted into sinful behavior or that replaces our God (or our families) in importance, becomes an abomination.

Let's pray: Lord, thank you for being passionate about me. Help me to recognize what You've made me to be passionate about - and how to use that gift to honor You. Let me be wise in my work, so that I take care of all of my family's needs, not just their financial needs. Help me to keep myself straight in who and what I am serving with passion. In the name of Jesus, amen.

In Christ, Karen

A Passionate Love: the relationship between God and you

2011-08-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

Are you ready to begin a new Good Bible Study? I can't wait!

I just finished reading the Book of Revelation and was struck at the very end, by God's passionate love for all mankind! Not only that, but the fact that while God loves each and every one of us, He really seems to develop a special friendship with those who are passionate, as well.

Think about it: who did God call His friend - by the way, can you imagine being called God's personal friend, not His child, not His servant, not His follower, but His friend? A few passionate souls come to mind:

Moses, a man so passionate he struck an Egyptian guard down to defend his fellow Israelites. Exodus 33:11

Abraham, who was so devoted to God he was willing to sacrifice his own son at God's command, trusting that God would raise his son Isaac up to fulfill God's Word that a nation would come from Isaac's line. 2 Chronicles 20:7; James 2:23

David was called a man after God's own heart. After God's own heart! Can you stand it? 1 Samuel 13:14b

Now, David was truly a man with an appetite for life and a passion for God. When the Lord showed David that he didn't have to be afraid to have the Ark of The Covenant in David's household, he brought the Ark to the City of David with such gladness, that after the procession had only gone 6 paces, David commanded they stop and offer a sacrifice to God. Then he danced before the Lord with all his might wearing a linen ephod (a short, sleeveless garment worn by priests.) The word used as danced here actually means "whirled." Imagine the trumpets blasting, and the people shouting, and the king of the land dancing and whirling with joy before the Lord!

I know that feeling, do you? That desire just to tear off my coat and dance with my face lifted up to the Lord, with tears of joy streaming down my face, just whirling about filled with the passion of the Holy Spirit before my God!Sometimes I have to remind myself that I don't go to that kind of church and do I really want to attract that kind of attention? David didn't care and I hope one day that I don't either!

The flipside is that passion without boundaries is just chaos.

Like Moses, David showed his passionate nature gone astray when he commanded one of his officer's wives, Bathsheba, be brought to the palace, where he seduced her (he was the king after all, I doubt she had much choice in the matter.) To cover his sin when she became pregnant, he then had her husband transferred to the front lines, and abandoned to die. You don't want to tick this guy off. Don't worry, God deals with David.

Paul is one of the best examples of a passionate, godly man - prior to his meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul (known then as Saul) was passionate about one thing only: killing Christians. Paul boasted that he followed all the commandments and all the Jewish traditional laws without blame. He considered himself a holy crusader of sorts, ridding the land of the "blasphemous" Jesus-followers without mercy. He was single minded, purposeful, and would let no one sway him from his goal.

Where you and I might see Paul as a lost cause, I can imagine God looking at Paul and saying, "Now there is a man I can use. There is a passionate man." He was right. Paul served God unselfishly and loved His people without rest, until the end of his life.

Peter, who Jesus called His "rock" was also a man of great passion. When Jesus asked Peter and his brother to put down their nets and "follow me," they did so immediately. Matt. 4:18-19. Later, when Jesus asked His disciples who the people said He was, and who they said He was, it was Peter who answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Matt. 16:16

When Jesus described His coming death and resurrection, it was Peter who took Jesus aside and vehemently insisted this should not happen. But Jesus reminded Peter that he was worried about things that concern men, instead of things that concern God. Matthew 16:21-23. Good or bad, it was Peter who always spoke up, who couldn't stop himself from speaking out, or acting up, because he was filled with passion! Peter was all in.

Peter followed Jesus out of the boat and onto the water. Matt. 14:28-29.

Peter struck off the guard's ear when Jesus was arrested. Matt. 26:51.

Peter followed Jesus all the way into the courtyard for His Lord's trial, when the other disciples fled. And it was Peter who wept bitterly when he realized he had just as adamantly denied knowing Jesus, just as Jesus predicted. Matt. 26:69-75

Finally, I want to add Mary, the sister to Martha and Lazarus, to this list of passionate individuals. Jesus loved these three as dear friends. John 11:5.

When Jesus visited their town, it was to Lazarus, Martha, and Mary's home that he stayed. During one such occasion, Martha was preparing the meal, while Mary sat enraptured at Jesus' feet, listening to Him talk and teach. Martha was irritated and asked Jesus to tell Mary to get up and help. But Jesus said, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42

You might not think this is a big deal, but in this time and culture, a women's place was definitely not in the living room with the men, but in the kitchen working and serving! Mary didn't care. She was passionate about Jesus and tradition be - well, you know!

You know, most of these individuals made really big mistakes, and sinned in ways you and I would condemn. But God doesn't demand perfection in behavior, but genuine love in our hearts. He knows those with huge hearts make huge mistakes - and they suffer just as greatly when they realize their error.

Moses ran off to live in the desert for 40 years, Exodus 2:15; David wept and fasted for 7 days, 2 Sam. 12:16-17; and Paul changed his entire life, giving up the wealth and prestige of his position in the Jewish culture and giving his very life to serve the cause of his Lord, Jesus Christ.

After denying Jesus three times, Peter ran off alone to weep bitterly, probably feeling like the worst Christian in the world. But as soon as Jesus was resurrected from the dead, He sent for Peter. He asked Peter three times if Peter loved him (the word for love used was "agapao", meaning a love requiring commitment.) I think Peter must have been unsure of his own ability to uphold his commitment to Jesus after failing so miserably in the courtyard, so answered first and secondly that he loved Jesus, using the word "phileo", meaning a strong warmth and friendship.

Finally, the third time, Peter asserted that he did love Jesus with commitment, or agapao, and it was only then that Jesus commanded Peter to care for His flock, His church, His believers. This time, Peter knew what was at stake, and he said "yes."

Interestingly, it seems Mary and Abraham lived their whole lives in obedience to God, and perhaps that was the reason they were each called God's friend, for Jesus says if we obey His commandment (to love one another as He has loved us), we are His friend. John 15:14-15.

I want to be called the friend of God. I want to be Jesus' friend. I want to be passionate about loving what He loves; who He loves! Are you with me? If so, we are going to passionately love God, love Jesus, and love others. That's a verb, by the way.

Join me again in A Good Bible Study as we learn to loose our passionate nature for God!

Teach Your Children in the Way they should Go . . . and "Black-out Art?"

2011-05-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

God's Word speaks to the heart of parents when He says "Teach the young according to their way, even when they are old they will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Ted Hildebrandt, (Grace Theological Journal 9.1 (1988) 3-19) says this about the verse:
"Careful consideration of lexical and contextual factors suggests that "train up a child in the way he should go" needs to be reexamined. The verb "to train" really refers to a bestowal of status and responsibility. The noun translated "child" denotes the status of a late adolescent rather than a child. "In the way he should go" is best understood as "according to what is expected." The original intent then of this verse addresses a late adolescents' entrance into his place in adult society. This should be done with celebration and encouragement-giving him respect, status and responsibilities commensurate with his position as a young adult." Copyright © 1988 by Grace Theological Seminary

I love these cross references as well!

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 4:9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

Deuteronomy 11:19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

As a homeschooling mom, I feel a great responsibility to teach my children what I feel they will need to know as adults, as well as to celebrate who they are as individuals, created with intention and purpose by God. It's so easy to slip into business-mode and forget how much fun it is to learn by playing with my kids! They learn so much more when I teach according to their natural tendencies and gifts.

My friend JeMa, a wonderful artist, found this cool poetry technique and put her typical artist's bent to it! The kids had fun, too! :) It's called "Black-out Art" and it's created using the text of newspapers. Poetry or art is created by blacking out all but just a few words. You can see why I thought it so fascinating and why I am going to use it as I teach my children in the way they should go at JeMa's blog:
Art By JeMA: It's A Blackout: "Our Blackout Poetry One of the most satisfying parts of homeschooling my children is allowing them to be creative. To allow my children ..."

Love, Karen

Surprised by the Voice of God - are you a prophet?

2011-04-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome to A Good Bible Study. Have you ever wondered if you are a prophet?

Prophecy is a very real gift of the Holy Spirit, and is the topic of the book Surprised by the Voice of God: How God Speaks Today Through Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions, written by Jack Deere. Deere is a former associate professor of Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary, now a pastor, writer, and lecturer and author of the best-selling book Surprised by the Power of the Spirit.

Deere gives a clear explanation of the ways God communicated to first-century Christians, and why God continues to speak to us using the same methods. He also explains to those of us brought up with a more "conservative" church background, how to accurately hear God speak through prophecies, dreams, visions, and other forms of divine communication.

I found the book very easy to read, as well as full of clear references back to the appropriate Scripture.

In addition to explaining the Gifts of the Spirit, Deere reminds us that just because someone is using gifts, and even using them for ministry, does not mean we should follow all of their teachings blindly. Gifts are subject to the human beings to whom given, and so can be misinterpreted or actively misused. For example, there are "psychics" who are very adept at "cold reading" subjects to get clues about who and what the person most wants to hear about.

I can think of one highly popular medium (someone who claims they are in communication with the dead) who asks multiple questions to get all the information he needs to appear "all-knowing. "I am sensing someone who's names starts with a B, anyone here have a loved one who's name starts with B . . . Is it a male figure, a father, uncle, or brother? No, then it must be a female with male energy, is she a strong personality? Was it a sudden death, no? Then did she die sooner than you expected, yes, I'm getting that . . .etc.) This isn't prophecy, this is knowing human nature and manipulating the hopes and fears of people desperate for answers.

So how do we know if someone is worth believing? A true prophet points us to God, not to ourselves, and not to the spirits of deceased loved ones, or to created things (like nature).

Who better to ask than God to reveal to you personally what you need to know to have comfort and peace? Of course He sometimes gives messages (prophecy) through others, but be careful not be taken in by someone who's true interest is in your money. Remember, much of what a psychic says can't be proved, and does not come true, anyway. But, the message of a prophet is often a confirmation of what God has already put in your own heart.

Another way prophecy and psychism differ is that a prophetic message refers to God's plan and reflects His values. Psychic readings tend to give us permission to do what we want to anyway, regardless of the effect on others.

Jesus told us to evaluate prophets, ministers, and teachers by their fruit:

A Tree and Its Fruit
15“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

and

21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:15-23
Also look up 1 Kings 13:18; Jeremiah 23:16; Matthew 24:11; Mark 13:22; Acts 13:6.

So, even people with good gifts are able to claim they are serving God, but in reality serve themselves. We don't have to look far to see examples in the media!

Just what is good fruit? What should we look for in the lives, character, teachings, and churches of our leaders?

"22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."
Galatians 5:22-26

One good way to examine fruit is to look at our spiritual leaders' lives and relationships, their business practices, the attitude of their staff, and how they treat those who differ in opinions. Deere suggests we ask these questions about prophetic ministers and teachers:

"1. Are they honoring Christ and bringing glory to Him, or are they bringing attention to themselves?
2. Are they walking in humility, and does their ministry produce humility?
3. Does their ministry produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit? Are they setting the example for others to encourage the Holy Spirit to grow in them, and produce fruit?
4. Are their words accurate and do their predictions come true? Those gifted with prophecy gain authority and stature by exhibiting the character of the Lord Jesus and consistently giving accurate predictions. (As we trust and obey God, we will deliver more accuracy as we mature.)
5. Does their teaching fall in line with Scripture? Very important! Reading and interpreting Scripture as written, and for ourselves, is vital. At times our religious traditions contradict Scripture, and some religious leaders prefer to honor man-made tradition over the very Scripture on which are traditions should be built.

Speaking of which, it is never a prophet's role to control the lives of his or her followers, i.e., as in a cult!

A prophet never replaces the Holy Spirit in our walk with God, and certainly does not remove our accountability before God for our choices and decisions. Read Kings 13:1-18.

In fact, quite frequently a prophetic word serves to support, confirm, or clarify a leading God has given us individually, through the Holy Spirit.

What if you have been given the gift of prophecy?

If you feel led to share a prophecy to someone, or your church body, pray and ask permission from God to share the prophecy at this time. Some prophecies are are more of a FYI, a preparation for a coming event. Others are to gently correct, or to encourage others. Speak to your church leadership first if the message is for the body. Ask for prophetic confirmation and permission to speak. If the answer is no, go back and pray for more guidance from God.

Also, pray and ask for the correct interpretation of the prophecy. It's easy for us to get a revelation, but then interpret based on our own opinions of what someone should be doing. Too often people have been publicly humiliated over a revelation when prayer and a private discussion would have resulted in glory to God, instead of resentment over a misunderstood reason behind the prophecy.

Prophecy is best given in a spirit of humility, without dramatic exclamations or "Thus says the Lord," or in loud voices. This self-aggrandizing results in fear, or self-appointed authority, when in truth, prophets are messengers acting under God's guidance and insight, not their own.

Leave the outcome of the message to God. People will either listen, or they won't. They will be blessed, or they won't. We don't know the purpose behind the prophecy sometimes, just that we need to share it. Say something like, "I feel like God wants me to share this with you, I hope it's meaningful to you."

If you are looking for praise, applause, or personal obedience you've forgotten your place. This is God's message, not ours, and we don't always know why someone needs to hear the message we've been given it.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8

Let's pray:

Lord, thank you for your good gifts. If there is anyone reading who wants what You have, who wants to bless others with Your gifts, lead them to know You and Your ways. Help us to be open to what You would have us say to encourage and lead others. Help us to be humble and remember it's Your wisdom, not our own. And help us to be willing to listen, and not just to speak. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

The Holy Spirit and you

2011-04-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

What is the Holy Spirit and what is His role in every day believers' lives? The Holy Spirit comes as a comforter, helper and communicator from God. He was sent specifically by Jesus to everyone and anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit will help us in specific ways:

"Jesus answered and said to him,'If anyone loves Me, he (or she) will keep My word; and my Father will love him (or her), and We will come to him (or her) and make Our home with him (or her). He (or she) who does not love Me does not keep My words. . .the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.

These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring you remembrance of all things that I said to you.'" John 14:23-26

"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me." John 15:26

"However when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come." John 16:13-14

What Jesus Christ is saying, is that if we love and worship God, accept His gift of eternal life with Him in heaven by the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, then we are given personal access to God through the Holy Spirit. What a wonderful gift!

The Holy Spirit's role for believers is to
1. teach us all things
2. remind us of everything Jesus said and taught
3. testify about Jesus to us
4. guide us into all truth
5. tell us what is to happen in the future

The Holy Spirit did all of these things for the apostles, however, He is still working in all believers today. We might call it intuition, a feeling or hunch, a remembrance of scripture or bible teaching, or at times, an audible or visual message telling us to act (or avoid something). We often say, "What a coincidence" or "I just knew I was supposed to do that."

The Holy Spirit is also our conscience, our moral compass; He brings a sense of conviction to our hearts. At the moment you felt you needed God, wanted God, and couldn't wait to spit out all of the ways you'd sinned and rejected love in the past, you met the Holy Spirit.

The more time we spend in God's word, the better we will recognize His voice, His teaching, and leading. The more time we spend not only asking in prayer, but listening and expecting His response, the more we will experience His voice. I find it's those times when I am physically active and mentally silent that I get the most clear communication, those "a-ha!" moments that can only be from the Holy Spirit because just two seconds before I was completely stumped!

The Holy Spirit comes to lead us to joy, contentment, peace, love, and harmony, not to increase our self-centeredness or self-importance. We do not need to "channel" Him, be "possessed" by Him, or lose control to Him. We do not need to burn incense, chant, or meditate to access Him.

He comes as a gift from God, a Helper, a Comforter, a Truth-Giver. The only requirement is to love God, and to choose to believe God loves you. In fact, God says He loved us first (Romans 5:8.) We don't have to do anything to earn, or get, His love. He already gave it and He doesn't take it back! We only need to admit that there's no way we can ever do enough good to deserve heaven, and just accept what Jesus did so that we can have heaven anyway.

We've only got to believe what God says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call on me, and got to pray to Me and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord . . ."

Pray with me now: Lord, I am so sorry for all the ways I've tried to get what I want while ignoring You. I can't be good enough to get to You on my own. I'm tired of trying. I've been selfish and self-centered, and wanted it all my own way. Most of the time my plans have backfired on me. Please forgive me for everything I've ever done, and ever will do to hurt You and hurt other people. I accept Jesus died for me, so I can live. I accept His gift of life. I want Your Holy Spirit to be my teacher from now on. I'll follow You now. I want what You offer: peace, love, joy, contentment, laughter, and harmony. Send your Holy Spirit to me Lord and let me be sensitive to His voice from now on. Let me never be the same again! In the name of Your Son, Jesus, amen.

Spirituality, or spirits-uality

2011-03-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! I have been buried in books and prayer for the past few months and am coming up for air. God is so good. He provides exactly what we need, when we need it. I don't mean when and what we "want," but what He knows we need, in His wisdom. Let's pray:

Lord, guide my eyes so everything I read is filtered through Your Word and Your Grace; guide my ears, so that I recognize the difference between Your Truth, and spiritual confusion; guide my mind so I remember that anything that draws me into serving myself, elevating myself, or celebrating your creations over You, as Creator, actually decreases my spirituality instead of enhancing it.

And Father, keep my heart close to yours so I never believe anything, except that only Your love can satisfy the longings of my soul to be still, and know God. In the name of the Way, the Truth, and the Light, Jesus Christ, amen.

In reading The Holy Spirit and You, by Dennis and Rita Bennet, I was struck by this quote:
"If you find much emphasis on the teachings of Jesus, but little on His Person, you may be sure you are dealing with a false cult. Christianity is not founded on the teachings of Jesus, but on the Person of Jesus. It isn't what He taught, but Who He is, that matters most."

There is so much in the world today designed to confuse Christians and non-Christians alike. Satan loves to entice us with a small measure of truth, which he twists until we foggily look around, and realize we have forgotten who is the Source of all good things, and begin to worship the good things, instead.

In reading various books on "spirituality," attending some classes on healing and "gifts," I have been struck by how seductive false spirituality is, how it alludes to a relationship with God, but really points us to a "god" that asks nothing of us, and offers nothing to us other than more metaphysical knowledge and a desire for personal powers, including psychic gifts. This tempting apple is not dissimilar from that which brought down Adam and Eve, promising the knowledge of God.

I am not referring to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, which some confuse with talents or even psychic ability. We all are born with genetic talents but these are not Spiritual Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Talents are an expression of our own creativity and genetics, which are certainly given by God and should be expressed and used. However, while Gifts of the Holy Spirit might complement our talents, they are given to us by God only after we have chosen to repent of our sinful thoughts and behaviors, and accept the sacrifice of Jesus that literally purchased our forgiveness.

We all want our talents to be celebrated, and we tend to search for activities that will highlight our talents. We should instead do as Helen Keller suggests, "It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks." A Holy Spirit Gift is power equal to the task.

It is imperative to understand that Spiritual Gifts point us to God, not to ourselves. Mysticism and metaphysics point us to ourselves, and to knowledge for the sake of learning, alone.

Too often people searching for proof of God, seek out spirits. Little-s spirits are nothing more than demons claiming to be ghosts, extra-terrestrial travelers, or gods (goddesses.) These spirits seek to possess and control people by seducing them with special powers. Is it any wonder that demons possess personal and private knowledge of our loved ones and even ancient peoples? They've been watching us for centuries. Demons seek to gain our trust for the purpose of opening our spirits up for their immediate or eventual possession and control.

The Holy Spirit does not possess and overtake your consciousness. He indwells our hearts, giving us direct communication with God the Father. We retain choice, personality, and we experience an increased capacity for love, mercy, kindness, forgiveness, and a desire to help others.

These Gifts are for two specific purposes: ministering to and encouraging other believers; and demonstrating the power and goodness of God to non-believers, so that they are moved to believe.

Spiritual Gifts are listed in the following scriptures. Make sure you read reputable commentaries and study bible notes on these gifts for more understanding about practical application.
Exodus 31:3; Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14; Ephesians 4:1-16; Hebrews 2:4

The Holy Spirit Gifts are not designed to elevate ourselves and they never, ever involve speaking to spirits of the dead or allowing any spirit to possess us for the purpose of "channeling" knowledge. God is very clear about this in His Word.

Question any person or doctrine that encourages you to develop supernatural gifts merely for the purpose of increasing knowledge, or even under the guise of helping others if it is by your "spiritual" power and not by the working of the Holy Spirit, and without a requirement to be guided by, put to use by, and in submission to God. I mean God the Person, not god the universal energy that requires and demands nothing from us other than we "grow and learn" here on earth for our personal improvement.

2 Timothy 3:1-7 (New International Version 1984, ©1984)

"Godlessness in the Last Days
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.

I caution myself, and all of you who are seeking a more intense experience with God, to follow the advice our Lord gives when considering the teachings of any man, or woman, and that is:

"Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world." New Living Translation (©2007)

Examples include:

1 Kings 13:18 The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" (But he was lying to him.)
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Jeremiah 14:14 Then the LORD said to me, "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds.
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Jeremiah 23:16 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Do not listen to what the (false) prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
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Jeremiah 29:8 Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let your (false) prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.
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Matthew 7:15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
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1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 Test everything. Hold on to the good. Abstain from every form of evil.
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2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 Now, brethren, concerning of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
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2 Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
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1 John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
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2 John 1:7 Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
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Revelation 2:2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.
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Let's pray:
Lord, thank You for Your good gifts. There are many things we do not understand in this universe of Yours. One thing we know is true is that there is one God, one Father, one sacrifice for our sins who is Jesus Christ, one Holy Spirit by whom comes all Spiritual Gifts that increase a genuine spirituality. Help us to focus on You, instead of ourselves. Help us to help others in a way that leads them to the ultimate Helper. Help us to seek eternal gifts, and not temporary talents that serve our own egos, no matter how we dress them up in a cloak of spirituality. Your Gifts include discerning of spirits, knowing which are of Truth, and which are clever lies. I pray for each of us to be truly discerning of spirits, in the name of Jesus, amen.
Love, Karen

Do other religions have anything to offer Christianity?

2011-01-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

Hello again, welcome to A Good Bible Study. If this is your first time visiting, please begin at the first blog post.

During my reading and prayer time, I have been seeking knowledge and understanding about the supernatural spiritual world consistent with my Christian faith, and have been richly rewarded.

I wondered if any other Christian scholars had looked to the bible for context and explanation of the miraculous and spiritually supernatural events that occur around the world, including near death experiences, and also whether other religions, which may not specifically understand or recognize Jesus Christ as the ultimate Redeemer and Son of God, have yet something of value to contribute to Christian faith and spiritual growth.

In reading the words of Thomas Merton , a universally respected scholar, authority on Christian mysticism, and best-selling author, who was also a monk who lived more than 27 years in the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky (yes, Kentucky) I found encouragement to trust God to lead me to find the truths, and recognize that which is not.

So, yes, I am beginning to believe that other faiths may have much to teach Christians about spiritual inner life, just as Christians may share the true source, Jesus Christ, of all this wonderful spiritual knowledge.

". . . I think we we have now reached a stage (long overdue) of religious maturity at which it may be possible for someone to remain perfectly faithful to a Christian and Western monastic commitment, and yet learn in depth from , say, a Buddhist discipline and experience. I believe that some of us need to do this in order to improve the quality of our own monastic life and even to help in the task of monastic renewal which has been undertaken within the Western Church." The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (Father Louis), New Directions, New York
Love, Karen

Want love, happiness, contentment, prosperity? Read this and it's yours.

2010-11-24T18:04:00.000-08:00

Hello again - I'm so happy you've returned to A Good Bible Study! I look forward to this new chapter in our growth together in the Word of God. Let's pray:

Dear Lord, how can I thank You enough for giving us Your love letter to all people? Each time our eyes fall on Your pages, give us insight that only Your Holy Spirit can provide. Help us to be great in Your eyes, instead of seeking to be great in our own, and in the eyes of one another. Help us to lead, no matter what our roles in life. We know You are placing people in our path every day that seek our guidance or follow our example. Help us to seek You first, as we lead others. In the name of Jesus, amen.

We've have talked a lot in the past weeks about being intentional in our thoughts, about choosing to take our minds off thoughts that lead to unhappiness and dissatisfaction in our lives, and instead focus on the thoughts of God. Read Philippians 4-10 now and write it down. In fact, if you have not already begun one, start a prayer or bible verse journal to record the thoughts you have in this study, what you learn about yourself, and what verses or "aha" insights God gives you through our time together.

You will get exactly out of this time, what you intend to, and what you give to yourself in study and honest reflection.

"Finally brethren, whatever things are ______, whatever things are ______, whatever things are ______, whatever things are _________, whatever things are ___________, whatever things are of good __________, if there is any _________ and if there is anything ____________,- meditate on these things." NKJV

We can learn a lot from the letters Paul wrote to the new believers in the first 60 or so years after Christ's time on Earth.

Paul instructs us to think on things that lead to positive and helpful actions, instead of dwelling on thoughts that lead to despair, anger, sadness, depression, anxiety, rage, or confusion. We have a decision to make each time we entertain thoughts and that is, "Do I want to go there?"

Our thoughts are leading us to a destination and only we decide to get on that train, or not. John C. Maxwell says that our life today is a reflection of yesterday's thoughts.

Henry Ford said that whether we think we can, or we can't, we are right. Another way of saying that is "Be careful what you set your heart on, for surely you will get it." The problem is, after all the time and effort getting "it," do you still want it at the cost you paid?

What do you want?
_________________
_________________
_________________

Now consider this, do you want those _____'s, or do you think having them will give you something else, something deeper?

What do you really want?
__________________________________________

What will you want at the end of your life as you look back? What will have really made the difference?
_________________________________________

Read Proverbs 23:7 and write down what you learn.

As a person thinks in their _____ so are they. Your heart could be called the seat of your unconscious opinions, your intentions, your underlying motives.

Without the influence of the Holy Spirit, our hearts are innately selfish and self-centered. We get our heads turned by every pretty bauble, because we don't realize that we think the baubles will give us our true, underlying desires.

What do you think that is? The very basic craving we all have? Think on that, and it will change everything.

The problem with these "things" that seem so important to gain, is that as soon as we get them, the moment passes and we must set our sights on a new goal to reach that will give us the next "final" happiness. So, the struggle we all face is how to move from being momentarily happy with achievement, possessions, attainment, and success that lasts only for the day, or the hour, and move into recognizing our desire for something only God can give.

How many times have you said, "If only . . . " or "I can't wait till ...."

Imagine for a moment that death has come, and you stand face to face with Jesus. Imagine looking at his wounds, knowing full well that He paid that price for you, as if you are the only person on the planet, as if you are the only one He loves?

Read Revelations 4:9-11

The elders were in that position and yet they, given those crowns by God Himself, willingly cast them down at the feet of Jesus, recognizing His love, sacrifice, and greatness as so much more than their own.

What did these elders do to earn such glorious crowns in the first place? My Nelson study bible identifies these elders as leaders, ruling authorities. God honors and crowns those who lead, as long as they lead well.

That's what we are here to learn: the leadership qualities that God values.

I know we all seek to prosper, to do well in life, to live well and enjoy all that God has provided in this life. We all want to seek those things that give us earthly pleasure first, and secondarily turn our minds to God. After all, we live here and now and heaven is a long time away, we hope.

The irony of it is, is that here and now is the temporary place, and heaven our eternal dwelling, if we follow Jesus and accept Him as God's only Son, and the source of our salvation.

Read Matthew 6:25-34, and Luke 12:22-31 and pay close attention to the final verse. Don't miss out on the blessing of opening His Word and seeing it for your own eyes. God's Word is alive in a way you can't understand without opening the physical book and letting the words hit the back of your eyes and the center of your soul.

Let's pray on this and come back tomorrow for what comes next:

Father, I love You, I want You, and clearly, I need You! Whatever You want for me, I want it too. You are the only path to everyday-in the tips of my toes-no matter how crazy the rest of the world gets-happiness and I want it! Show me Your ways, and give me a heart to learn. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Paul Losevsky, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

Think on these things

2010-11-23T18:54:00.000-08:00

Welcome friends, to A Good Bible Study.

If you've read John C. Maxwell you might know his book Think on These Things. I feel it's a natural progression to our StressLess study since in this book, John focuses on the fact that as we think, we are, or we become.

John C. Maxwell is not only a highly regarded Pastor, he is also one of the foremost experts on leadership. You might not think of yourself as a leader, but I bet you influence more people than you know.

May be you've wanted to step into a leadership role, or have been placed in one, but aren't sure how to lead well, effectively, or with a positive attitude. May be the only model of leadership you've known have been "little dictators" or those who aren't able to share power and end up doing everything themselves, and making everyone else pay for it.

No matter your situation, as a parent, an employee or supervisor, even as a volunteer, each of us will more easily and effectively influence others and improve our world by learning God's leadership style.

Jesus is our ultimate model of leadership: the servant-leader. He leads by example, and by moving our hearts to desire to follow him. John C. Maxwell will teach us to do the same, and help us to recognize that "our ability to achieve anything great for God begins in our hearts and minds."

Let's pray:

Lord, as we begin this new chapter of our study, help us to be willing to serve others even as we grow as leaders. Help us to recognize what has limited our ability to serve and lead, and be now willing to succeed where in the past we have failed. Let us be weak, so You can make us strong, be humble, so You can make us great, in Your Will. In the name of Jesus, amen.

See you tomorrow,

love, Karen

Photo by Hunta, courtesy of www.photoxpress.com

The last key to living stressless

2010-11-22T13:58:00.000-08:00

Hello again, welcome to A Good Bible Study: StressLess. Let's pray and invite God into this time as we discover the last key to living stress-less:

Father, thank You for Your Word. As we prepare to share how to apply Your Word to our lives, open our minds and hearts to Your Holy Spirit. We invite You to be the true leader of our bible study time, to make us delight in Your Wisdom and Will. In the name of Jesus, amen.

That's right, we are nearing the completion of this topic of A Good Bible Study, but not the study itself. So, come back each day as we continue to study scripture and learn to apply God's wonderful wisdom to our lives, living with more joy, peace, and love, every day!

It's so powerful to activate our minds and our spirits, but we can't forget about our bodies. It's all connected and one without the others leaves us off-balance.

Getting active every day with something as simple as taking a walk, using light weights sitting in a chair, or even joining water aerobics at the local Y, helps to remove stress hormones like cortisol and adrenanline, and counteract the negative physical and emotional effects of stress. By the way, exercise can be even more effective at treating depression than medication!

It wasn't that many years ago that I suffered depression (and still have to be proactive during the dark winter months) to the point that I found it difficult to get out of bed during the day. I just felt so tired all the time that I didn't have the energy to do much more than care for my kids' daily needs.

If' you've read my book, Effortless Weightloss, you know that a big key to my recovery was getting up and moving for just 5 minutes every day. Now you know where that 5 minute concept began!

Read Isaiah 40:28-31 - don't skip this - read it!

Now, in the beginning, I didn't feel like getting up. Nope, didn't wanna do it. But, looking back I realize that I activated my mind and spirit through prayer and made a commitment to my own health. In the end, I made a choice to get up. And I made a deal with myself: 5 minutes and I was done.

That five minutes made a huge difference in how I felt. I really began to feel just a tiny bit more energetic, so it encouraged me to get up a little longer, and a little more often.

I started out just marching in place, then around my house, and when the weather permitted, outside to the yard. I didn't need any fancy equipment or a gym, just the resolve to help myself five minutes at a time. That's all you need, as well.

Read Philippians 4:13 and repeat it to yourself when you question your own resolve.

Physical movement builds up your immune system, your strength, your sense of competence, and your confidence. It makes you feel better, look better, and sleep better.

Read Romans 12:1

We can care for our bodies as a service to God. What a gift to our Creator to take good care of the body He has given us! Taking care of our bodies ensures we are fit and able to accomplish His purpose for our lives.

The biggest obstacle most of us face in taking good care of our bodies is our own feelings. We let feeling tired, fat, old, over-scheduled, or stressed affect the way we treat ourselves every day.

It's interesting: Our minds affect our feelings. Our bodies affect our feelings. Our spirit affects our feelings. As much time as we all spend thinking about our feelings we should be all over how to give ourselves the feelings we desire, you'd think.

We don't have to give in to feelings if we don't want to. In fact, we can change our feelings by submitting them to God, and asking Him to give us the strength, motivation, and desire to actively care for our bodies, just like any other area of our lives.

Read Ephesians 4:20-24

Put off the way you used to handle life; be renewed in the spirit of your mind; put on the new person God has made you!

We can take advantage of God's gifts - including a new attitude anytime we want it! You, me, all of us, we are never alone in our struggles and in our success.

Throughout this study we have shared 3 Keys to Stress Less. They are to Authenticate, Recuperate and Activate.

Authenticate: Be who you are in Christ, as intended by God and accomplished through the Holy Spirit.
Recuperate: Rest and recuperate both physically, mentally and spiritually, enjoying your God-given creative gifts and talents.
Activate: Actively use your spirit, mind, and body the glory of God.

And remember when you feel discouraged by others, by life, or begin to feel helpless and hopeless:

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (New International Version)

Come back tomorrow and be encouraged in the Word of God!
Love, Karen

Photo by Enter_design, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

How to create excellence

2010-11-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

Hello! Welcome back to A Good Bible Study: StressLess. I'm so glad we are sharing this adventure together. Let's pray:

Dear Lord, I thank You for every good thing in my life. My heart is full of love and gratitude for Your constant intervention. I know You are working things for good, for every person reading this study. Every person who loves You has been called according to Your purpose and good things are in store, not matter what has happened in the past. Thank you. Give us clear heads and calm spirits as we share Your Word. In the name of Jesus, amen.

I want to expand a bit on what we shared yesterday. I gave you a quick goal-setting exercise just to show you that it doesn't have to be complicated. We are always thinking about what we want to happen, what we'd like to do and see in our futures. This is just a way of helping you get intentional about it, so there is no hoping things will go well, only knowing things will go well.

Yesterday I said if you put those goals away and do nothing else for a year, you will be surprised how many will have come true, or be in the process of completion. I'd like to show you how to accelerate that process. Are you game?

Place those goals you wrote somewhere that will catch your eye each day, and then read them all every time you see them. Your brains responds best to distributed practice, which means reading something in a relaxed state, in between other tasks. Doing it over and over creates more connections to the information, making it easier to recall (which is the evidence of learning.)

All this combines to make the goals become more and more real to your brain, which likes continuity, remember? Want to amp the success rate up even higher?

Re-write your goals to say "I am so grateful and thankful that XXXXX is happening," or whatever makes sense in terms of your goal. The important thing is saying the words grateful and thankful. Even more important is creating a true emotion of gratitude while you say it.

Really ham it up. Thank God for the events and choose to believe He is working things out to bless you. Be grateful for God's good gifts. Our brains really get excited over feelings of love and positivity. There is all kinds of research, including quantum physics, learning and behavioral psychology, you name it, on the fact that everything responds to positive attitudes.

Without going too deep, even atoms and molecules respond to prayer and expectations. And learning has been shown to dramatically increase in an atmosphere of acceptance love. Still a sceptic? Then try it for yourself. You are your own proof.

Read Philippians 4:6-8

You know what, people who are sick of the way things are, are the very ones who will actively create a different life. Until you are ready to change, things will remain the same. Some of this is new for you. That's ok, because if what you've been doing was working out, you wouldn't be here now.

The great thing about writing down where you want to end up in one month, one year, or even by retirement, is that you have a compass to compare to your options. When you are going to make a decision to spend money, or which people to spend time with, or what to do on a free afternoon, ask yourself first, "Is this going to bring me closer to my goals, or not?" Even if you choose to do something unproductive, at least you are making a conscious decision, not waking up the next day and scratching your head.

You'll be amazed how exciting your life can be when you write down a goal for yourself and then bring it to fruition - it's intoxicating! You will be proud of yourself, and you will inspire those who look up to you to do the same.

And don't get paralyzed by thinking you have to write it down the perfect way, or with the most exact meaning. Doing anything constructive is better than doing nothing at all. You can revise it tomorrow, for heavens' sake!

"Excellence can be attained if you care more than others think is wise,

risk more than others think is safe,

dream more than others think is practical,

and expect more than others think is possible."

Again, author unknown, but I'd love to know who said that.

Now, write down something and do it now. Pray about it. Ask God for wisdom. Then do it before you talk yourself out of it. Then go and enjoy the day because God loves you and wants the best for your life.

Read Matthew 6:31-34

Father, thank you for helping us to know what is important and what we should focus on. Help us to dream big and seek Your wisdom in doing so. Thank You for instilling in us the ability to act on our own behalf, and trust You for the rest. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Stasys Eidiejus, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

How your top five values determine your future

2010-11-18T14:53:00.000-08:00

Hello friend! Thank you for spending this time with me in A Good Bible Study: StressLess. I am proud of the way you've made growing in your relationship with God a priority for your day today. Let's pray:

Dear Father, I'm so thankful for the changes You are making in our lives as a result of our dedication to seek You in Your Word. Each time we open the bible, each time we pray and ask You to develop our spirits, each time we spend time with others and support each other's desire to grow - You honor us with Your presence. Help us to open our hearts to You more today than yesterday. Help us to recognize the Truth. In Jesus' name, amen.

I'm so excited about today's lesson! We're are talking about your future today and boy, is it bright!

So often we get stuck in our past, and before we know it today has come and gone and we are living in our future without a clue as to how we got there and why it's not any better than we imagined.

Read Ephesians 5:15

God says there are lots of ways that we can throw away the time we've been given, but He wants us to be wise; plan our time so it's used for our benefit.

Read a few verses on. He implores us further to invite God to fill us with the Spirit, focusing on what we have to be thankful for, encouraging each other with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

In other words, focus on the things of God and His Word, and He will give you joy in your heart. That's always the best place to start our day - filling ourselves up with His Spirit and choosing to be thankful. If you are praising God, you can't help but begin to feel lighter.

Honestly, Satan loves to keep you looking back, so he can make sure you never enjoy right now, or experience the fun of creating a future that brings you joy and contentment. But, you can define and walk right into your future in only five minutes a day.

I love the five minute concept because that's about my attention span sometimes. How about you?

We are busy people these days and I think if we don't feel we can accomplish something in five minutes, then we decide in advance that we don't have time for it.

Now, what I am showing you today is two activities. Both will seem simple, you might even have heard a version of this before and if so, it's even more evidence that this works. So, like so many things, just do it.

When you are stressing out and there is nothing productive you can do about the situation I want you to

Say this out loud, "Father, you know what is bothering me and I believe You are working this out for my benefit. Thank You."
Then, choose to put five minutes of energy on a goal, a value, or a priority.

Look, it is psychologically impossible to feel two emotions at the same time. You can block a negative emotion by choosing to do, think, and say things that create a more preferable emotion. We learned this week that taking action creates a feeling of accomplishment and competence. That's got to feel better than worrying.

So, may be you are one of those folks who think you don't have any goals. Impossible.

Read Matthew 6:21

It says pay attention to our _________, and that will tell us where our ______ is, or what we value.

What do you spend your real time on? List it all. Not what you think you should spend your time on, what you actually do spend your time on.
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

Now, again, what do you actually spend your money on? No one is reading this but you, so be honest with yourself if you want to get the most out of this.
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

What did you learn about yourself? Is your treasure, what you value right now, what you thought it would be, or what you hoped it would be?

If you are not valuing what you want to value, you can change it. This is a great tool to see if we are getting off course with who, what, and where we want to exchange our time and money!

You know, looking at what we are valuing with our time and money will give us a good idea of the future we are creating. Is it what you want? Because if we go on auto-pilot, we are going to get where we end up, and it might not be where we hoped we'd be at the end of the day.

Melanie Strick calls herself "The Entrepreneur's Success Coach," and she's identified five Top Values that most of us strive to satisfy in the course of our lives.

God and Spirtual Growth
Family Health and Happiness and Time
Money
Creative Output and Reward
Rest and Relaxation including Travel

Try this right now, and do it quick, without a lot of thought. This is not forever, just your top thoughts.

Write down on a piece of paper each of those values and next to each, write the first thought that comes to mind as a goal to achieve in that area. It might be as simple as "pray first thing each morning," or "do the activities in this study each day," for your God value.

For family it might be something like "spend 15 minutes a day alone with each of my children to listen to them." Money could be "set aside $20 a month in an envelope to save up for ____ at the end of the year."

It's up to you. It doesn't matter what you write, but write it and don't throw it away afterwards.

Just tuck it somewhere and don't look at it again for one year. Seriously.

Believe it or not, your subconsious is already making subtle changes in your thinking to make what you wrote a reality. Your brain loves congruency. It doesn't differentiate between "reality" and what you choose to be "real." If you say it happened, your brain actually wants to be congruent so it will begin to make your internal reality and your external reality the same.

That's why what you say about yourself and speak over your children is powerful and it does matter.

Want proof? Harvard did a study in which it asked the graduating class to write down goals. Ten years later they checked on the grads. Not one of the folks who refused to write down their goals achieved what they intended, but nearly all of the students who wrote down specific goals, did what they wrote!

Here's another statistic for you: Only 10% of people achieve their goals. Of those 10%, at least 90% of them wrote their goals down!

The written word is powerful. If you do nothing else, write down something you'd like to achieve - today!

When I was driving a semi over the road with my husband (about a decade ago) I wrote a "bucket list" of the way I wanted my life to be. I found it a year or so ago and was floored but what I saw. I had forgotten about this list almost from the day I wrote it. It listed:

My husband would have his own trucking company
We would live on a farm
I would have horses
We would be debt-free
My older kids (who lived with their dad) would return home to live with me
I would write a book

Guess what. All of this has come true!

Let that sink in and I will continue this tomorrow. Until then, let's pray:

Lord, you have given us more power over our own destiny than we know, or would like to admit sometimes. Make us wise, Lord, in what we value and how we spend our time and money. Lead our hearts and give us a vision of Your plan for today and the future. Help us to take action, to take responsibility for our choices and to write down at least one goal today.

Let our greatest and most important goal be to believe in Jesus Christ and accept the gift of His forgiveness so we can stand before You in the end and hear You say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Lee O'Dell, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

Facing down fear

2010-11-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to A Good Bible Study: StressLess! We are continuing to talk about facing down fear so we can get on with enjoying life. Pray along with me, out loud, and we'll get right into the Word:

Dear Lord, thank you for this beautiful day You've created. I haven't even looked out the window yet but I know You have good things in store for me and my loved ones today.

I know Your character from reading Your letters to me: Your Word, the bible. Help me to trust You today, and believe You are working in whatever situations are going on with me. Help me to face my fears, and see they aren't the strongest thing in my life, You are! Help me to know what it is I can do, and to do it. Help me to focus on pleasing You today, knowing that You are focused on helping me. In the name of Jesus, amen.

So friend, tell me how did it go yesterday? You were going to do one thing, or do one activity, for five minutes to face your fear. If you took action, I know you felt better about it. Hopefully, it gave you a sense of the truth: that you can handle whatever is happening.

It doesn't mean you like what is happening. It doesn't mean you choose what has happened. It means you can handle it and you can do one thing to start resolving it right now. That one thing must start with prayer. Believe God hears you, and will lead you to know the first step to take.

Even one small thing is taking action. And remember, taking action diffuses anxiety and makes you feel competent.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

If your thoughts begin to get in the way, fearful thoughts, insecurity, thoughts of "what if," then go back to authenticity. Remind yourself of the truth of the matter, of who you are and what you are afraid of. Call out that fear and name it!

Don't just walk around repeating, "I'm afraid." You're still focusing on the fear. Admit what you are afraid of and start telling that fear some truth. Get authentic on it. Speaking the truth empowers you physically, mentally, and spiritually.

I pull out the big guns when I am getting wrapped up in fear. Read 2 Timothy 1:7

What did you learn? God has not given us a what? A _______ of _______.

Instead He has given us one of ________, _________, and a _______ mind.

Write that down and repeat that when fear is getting the best of you. Say it with force, not as a plea. Say it with conviction like you know it's true, because it is. Look, you might have to do this all day for a few days until it starts sinking in. The devil isn't going down without a fight. But we are assured that if we continue to resist the devil, he will flee.

Read James 4:7

What must you do before you start standing up to Satan and his bag of tricks? This is very important.

First, _____ yourself to God. What does that mean?
_____________________________________________

Right, it means humble yourself to God. Place yourself under His authority. This is the most powerful thing you can do. You are not only His child, you are operating under His authority when you tell fear to take a hike.

Think about that for a minute. You've got the authority of God backing you up on this.

God is telling you that you do not have to be bullied by fear and anxiety. He says to come under His wing and know that He has your back.

I'm not telling to deny your feelings of fear and anxiety, but I am telling you to recognize that no one died of a feeling. That's why we must take action, because we are afraid. Joyce Meyers says if you are afraid but something has to get done, then "do it afraid."

Dont' you know courage is not moving forward without fear, it's moving forward in spite of fear. So call it out. Name it.

Say "So, I'm afraid. So, what? I still have to get breakfast made, still have people to help. So, I'm angry . . . good. That anger is going to help me have confidence in making a decision today without worrying so much about what people think. Yup, I'm sad. That's right. And later I am going to treat myself to a hot bath because I need some t.l.c." Are you getting it?

James Hollingworth (AKA Ambrose Redmoon) a radical beatnik, known only for his eccentricity and for this one powerful quote, said "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the judgement that something else is more important than fear."

If you have suffered from fear and anxiety, I don't have to tell you that peace of mind gets real important when you don't have it, right?

Eleanor Roosevelt said,

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really have to stop and look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes long. You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

Let's pray:

Father, let us go forth boldly today, recognizing that fear is an emotion designed to stop us. But we are the children of the Most High King, and if we humble ourselves and put ourselves under Your authority, we can look fear in the eye and tell it we won't be held captive anymore. We will resist the devil and he will flee. We will do it afraid if we have to, but we will move forward.

We will tell ourselves the truth of who we are, and what we have already been through. We will shout out scriptures and remind ourselves and fear itself, that God has not given us a spirit of fear, so we can let it go. We can accept the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind, because it's ours to take. Thank you Father, for your good gifts! In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Damien Bouchard, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

How to defeat fear

2010-11-16T17:49:00.000-08:00

Hello again - I'm glad to see you back in A Good Bible Study: StressLess! We have some exciting news today - I'm going to show you how to quickly defeat fear. Let's pray and get started:

Dear Father, thank you for this day, and this time to spend in Your Word. Please remove from our minds any distractions, any fears and worries that might prevent us from giving ourselves this gift of Your Word. Thank You for ordering our day so that everything that needs to get done, will get done. Help us to be at peace, and to spread that peace like a wildfire to everyone we encounter today. In the name of Jesus, amen.

We talked the other day about the need to just say it out loud when we are afraid. It takes the power from fear. Sometimes we are too afraid even to admit we are afraid. We are fearful to give the emotion more power. But you know what, saying it actually depletes its power!

Read through some of the Psalms. So often David, the author, begins his songs with admitting he is afraid, even terrified at times. He calls it out to God and then recites what He knows about God. God is my fortress, my shield, my defender, and so on.

David was on the run for decades from the King, who sought to take David's life. David had real reason to fear, but he didn't sit in fear and do nothing.

Taking positive, appropriate action is always more powerful than remaining immobilized.

What you learn today again, will sound simple, but it will be one of the most important tools you will ever possess to reduce stress and eliminate the power of fear. Are you ready for it?

Move Toward Your Fear.

What?? That sounds contradictory and if you were afraid of a tiger stalking you in the jungle, I would agree with you. Most of what we are afraid of is not life or death, but even if it was, moving toward your fear, instead of avoiding it is amazingly powerful! Why?

Because taking action frees up your mind to problem solve. Even one small step will get you out of neutral and begin the force of motion, in your mind and in your spirit. You will instantly feel powerful instead of weak, competent instead of ineffectual.

A Fear Faced is a Fear Erased.

So much of what we are afraid of exists only in our minds. And even if what we are afraid of happens, we keep breathing, we keep moving forward, we get on the other side of it at some point and go on until the next problem comes up.

Do you know what puts it into perspective for me? I've told you this before: Any day I don't bury a child is a good day. Keeps it all lined up straight for me.

The fact of that is, I have buried a child, and guess what? As wrong as it seemed to me at the time, the sun still came up the next day. I got past even that. I didn't get past it in a day or a year, and in some ways I will never recover completely, but I lived. I survived.

God forbid it happens again, but it could. I can't go through life being afraid it might happen, because the truth is every one of my kids is going to leave this earth at some time. We all have a purpose and a design and on this side of heaven a lot of it doesn't make sense to my little human mind. That's why I'm glad God is bigger than me.

Read Psalm 56:3 and write what who it says we can trust when we are afraid?

_________________

So we can stay immobilized and apathetic by what might happen, or we can take action and know for certain what we can do today, and trust the rest to God.

I love this quote but don't know who said it first, so if you do, let me know:

"Change only happens when the pain of holding on is greater than the fear of letting go."

It's like when a small child is holding onto the monkey bars and below, a parent is standing with arms outstretched saying, "Let go, I've got you." The child won't let go unless he trusts the parent completely, or can't hold on anymore and has no choice but to act, and let go.

The longer we hold onto thinking about what we fear, the longer we spin our wheels, the longer we convince ourselves we can do nothing, the more power we feed the fear itself.

In his first inaugural address, in 1933, Winston Churchill said "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

So, what do I suggest? Go back to the five minute concept.

Do one small thing, be it only for five minutes, that will help you solve or understand your problem. Take five minutes and make a list, make a phone call, set a date. Set a timer and work for five minutes on the project you are most avoiding and dreading.

It seems simple and it is. And it works. You will be amazed at how competent, powerful, and effective you feel after just doing one small thing, anything, towards facing your fear down and taking action. It's amazing!

I want you to go do something right now. It might be as simple as taking five minutes to start gathering your supplies to clean the messiest room in the house, or taking five minutes to organize just one kitchen cupboard, or making one phone call to that attorney you've been dreading to make.

Get on the other side of what you are dreading and fearing today! Say the prayer below with me, and then go do it! I'm rooting for you.

Dear Heavenly Father, I want to thank You for giving us the answers when we are afraid. Thank you for supplying us with powerful words to wield at our spiritual enemies. Lead us to look up scriptures on fear when we need Your Power. Help us to take action instead of letting fear immobilize us. Give us courage to do just one thing, or for just five minutes, so we can be conquerors and not slaves to our emotions. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Bionic Media, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

Have you got 5 minutes to change your life?

2010-11-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

Welcome back, friend! It's so good to be sharing God's Word together in A Good Bible Study: StressLess. Let's pray and get started:

Lord, thank you for friends. Work in our hearts so we are sensitive to the needs of our friends. Help us to respond to your urging to reach out and be available. Thank you also for Your Word. Change us daily. Touch our hearts through Your Scripture today and every day. Lead us to open our bibles and invite You to soften our hearts as only You can. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Did the title of this post catch your attention? I hope so. The reality is that we can change our stress level in just five minutes or less, if we take action. That's the third key to living with less stress, and more contentment: activate. It just means doing something instead of stressing.

5 minutes can mean the difference between anxiety and peace.

How do you start your day? Do you lay in bed and spend 5 minutes in prayer, thanking God for another day with those you love, or another day to move closer to your goals? Do you ask Him to make your path straight today; to make you a more compassionate and loving person; or to give you the motivation to do whatever needs to get done today?

That first 5 minutes is the most important time in your day. It sets the tone.

If you have children, I invite you to let them see you pray out loud. It doesn't have to be formal or even lengthy. Pray in the car on the way to school, "Lord, thank you for blessing my kids today and keeping them safe. Help them to learn quickly and easily, and to be a good friend. Amen."

Spend five minutes with Your Father, the King. After all you are His child.

That first five minutes of my day activates my enthusiasm and diffuses any anxiety before it has a chance to take hold. It's the time I receive insight for the day ahead and remind myself that I am not alone.

I think of it like warming up my car in the winter. That few minutes of preparation allows my vehicle to run smoother, and be warm and cozy by the time I put it to work. It gets me organized and my thoughts in-line so solutions come more quickly. And it reminds me that my Father, who made the heavens and the earth, who set the planets in motion, and told the sea how far it can go, can do much better than me in planning my day.

Hey, some solutions require more than I have to give, so I start out my day asking for more than I have.

More often than not, when I begin my day asking God to plan it and make time for everything that needs to get done, amazingly, everything does! It just seems like the hours expand and choices seem more clear.

Read Proverbs 10:27 right now. I'll wait.

The fear (respect, reverence) of the Lord ________ days. I like that. It means He gives you a long life, and an eternal life in the end, but I also like to think of it as prolonging each day so that what must get done, does get done.

If I listen, His Holy Spirit also gives me insights as to what really needs to get done, and what can just as well wait.

Hudson Taylor spent 51 years as a missionary in China. This is a part of the world, remember, in which a person can be imprisoned or killed for simply being a Christian. Pretty stressful, right?

Taylor was asked once why he began each day praying. He responded, "You don't have your concert first and tune your instruments later."

Let's pray:

Lord, I ask that You put Yourself first in our thoughts every morning from now on. I ask that Your Holy Spirit bang on the door of our hearts until we let Him in, first thing. Don't let us get away with ignoring You. Help us to see spending time with You as the most important, most beneficial moments we have each day. Help us to seek You first, and trust You will add everything we need the rest of the day. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Aleksandr Shebanov, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

What's driving you?

2010-11-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

Welcome again to A Good Bible Study: StressLess! I'm glad to be with you here, discovering God's Word and how we can live the joy-filled life He intends for us. Let's join in prayer:

Father, thank you for this time. Please help us to honor You with our thoughts and actions today. Help us to be sensitive to Your encouragement, and Your leading. Please prepare our hearts to hear You, and take action. Let us be doers of the Word, and not just hearers. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Read James 1:22-27

Instead of just listening and agreeing with what you know is good to do, go and do it, the writer of James implores us. Too often we procrastinate and let opportunities slip by. At the end of our days, will we regret more what we did, or what we didn't do?

It's easy to intend to do things, isn't it? It's harder to take the first step, but once we do, the rest is downhill. Rick Warren, Pastor and author of the best-selling book "The Purpose-Driven Life" says there are 5 main circumstances, values, or emotions that drive most of our decisions. They are the core forces that shape our thoughts, feelings, and decisions.

He calls them guilt; resentment and anger; fear; materialism; and approval.

I'm going to focus on fear in this study, because it is the most common and debilitating problem facing people today. It's also one of Satan's favorite weapons, because we are all so susceptible to it.

Stress often leads to a feeling of fear: fear of the unknown, of the future, or what might or might not happen.

Did you know anxiety is the problem people most commonly seek treatment for in America, today? May be that's why God provided over 365 scriptres addressing fear - more than one for every day! Over and over He encourages us in His Word:

Don't be afraid, for I am with you.

Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will hold you up with My victorious right Hand.! Isaiah 41:10 NLT

I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord.

Thoughts of good and not of evil,

to give you a future and a hope.

Then you will call on Me

and go and pray to Me

and I will listen to you.

And you will seek Me and find me,

when you search for Me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 NKJV

So, the first thing we have to do is call it out. Recognize it is fear that stops us from taking action.

Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is name what it is we are afraid of. It takes the edge off just to say it out loud.

So, our first step in conquering fear so we can take action, is to name it and say it. It sounds simple, but like all simple things, it works.

Try it. "I'm afraid that if I ________, then _____________ will happen."

Or "I'm afraid that if I ______, then ______________ won't happen."

Now, take a breath. How do you feel? Did the sun stop shining? Did the earth stop turning? Did they take away your birthday?

Now, continue on.

And if what I am afraid of happens, or doesn't happen, what then?

___________________________________

Ok, and after that then what?

___________________________________

And after that, then what?

___________________________________

Keep going till you run out of fears. Are you still ok?

Now what is the likelihood of what you are afraid of happening? 99% of what we are afraid will happen, won't. But if it did - can you, in reality, recover?

It will also really help you to turn to the back of your bible, and look up a few verses on fear. Write them down and when you feel yourself getting caught up in anxiety, pull them out and say them out loud. Say them with power and choose to believe in them!

Shake your fist in the face of Satan, the father of fear, and use the Word of God as a weapon - it will never fail to fill you with the power of the Holy Spirit if you wield it with conviction.

Let's pray:

Oh Father, thank You for Your Word! Thank You for giving us a weapon against fear and a shield against anxiety. Help us to use it every time we need it and use it quickly. You tell us to seek You and that we will find You when we search for You with all our hearts. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Andrzej Borowicz, couresy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

The third key to living stressless

2010-11-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Hello! Can you believe it? We are moving on the the third and final key to living stress-less today. Now, it will take some time to hit all the great points, so don't worry, we have lot's more time together.

Welcome back to A Good Bible Study: Stress Less. Let's pray:

Dear Heavenly Father, Abba, you know our hearts. You know the burdens each of us carries, the ways in which we have felt stress and pressure. Lord, show us in Your Word how to live the life of joy and compassion that you intend for us. Help us to remember to authenticate, recuperate, and now activate our bodies, minds and spirits to be powerful and intentional in our lives. Most of all, lead us to know how to love You, and please You, and then to go out there and do it! In the name of Jesus, amen.

The third key to living a life free from stress is Activate!

Think about it: You can spend time praying and meditating on your authentic self all day, and you can rest and let your creative juices perculate till they are spilling over, but what good is any of this unless you put it into action and do something with it?

Proverbs 23:7 says that as you think, so you will act.

Joyce Meyer, in her book Joy Redefined: Loving Others says, "But along with our beliefs, what's most important is how we treat other people we encounter along life's road. It's the truest test of what we believe."

The Word tells us that our fruit, our actions, are an indication of our inner thoughts and beliefs.

So, it's truly a continuum: change our thoughts and feelings through becoming an authentic being of God (the first key); and also keep refreshed by regularly recuperating and refilling our bodies, minds and spirits - both in the Word and physically retreating and resting (the second key); and finally, show the evidence of that internal change by taking action.

You know, I am a big fan of thinking positively. We can choose what to dwell on so why not choose to believe the best: the best of God, the best of others, and the best of ourselves and our future.

But, if we sit around all day believing the best is coming, but never go out to meet it and never bring our best to fruition, then let's be honest, we are just dreaming.

Now we can focus our action on a variety of things. We can choose what will drive our behavior. Some things will bring us more joy and satisfaction, and others will drive us right back to bitterness and despair.

Read Matthew 7:15-18. Jesus says if you want to know what's driving a person, look at their fruit, their actions, what comes of their efforts.

We've got to be very careful because being authentic, meaning being true to our intended purpose and nature (as intended by God) results in activating our gifts and talents to produce good fruit, fruit that blesses our lives, and the lives of others.

Using our gifts to serve God's purpose for us leads to pleasure, joy, satisfaction, and contentment. Using our gifts to serve selfishness (really the purpose of Satan) leads to anger, greed, bitterness and eventually the loss of everything we gained.

Read Galatians 5:19-25

List here the fruit of the flesh (selfishness):
"_________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
_______ ____ ________
_______ _________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
__________
and the like and . . . those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Now list the fruit of God's Spirit:
"________
_________
_________
_________
_________
_________
_________
_________
Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its (selfish) passions and desires. If we live (daily) in the Spirit, let us also walk (have our intentions and actions reflect) in the Spirit."

How do we know if we being authentic, and if we are recuperated and filled up with the Spirit? We need only look at our behavior, and the results of our actions.

Let's pray:

Lord, I want to live in Your Spirit authentically. I want to be recuperated and refilled by Your Spirit every day. And I want my actions to reflect Your Spirit, instead of my selfish nature. I thank You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit, sent by Your Son, Jesus to comfort and guide us if we accept the gift of His sacrifice, His payment for our sins. I do, Lord. I know that nothing good is in me without You.

Thank you for paying the price for my selfish sinful thoughts and actions. I ask Your forgiveness now, and I am equally thankful for I know even as I ask, that You have already given it. I gratefully accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and open my heart to Your Holy Spirit to live within, and walk with me daily. When my fruit is good, let me dance with joy in knowing I am living out my purpose and using the wonderful gifts you've given me. When my fruit is rotten, I ask you to open my eyes immediately and break my heart with remorse so I can turn off that path, and run back to You! In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Friend, beloved, I hope you prayed along with me and meant every word. If not, then I ask you to simply pray for God to change your heart, so that you can. Love, Karen

Photo by Enter_design, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

Make all the difference

2010-11-10T15:35:00.000-08:00

Hello, welcome back to A Good Bible Study: StressLess! Let's pray and dive right into the Word:

Father, thank you for creating this time for us to meet with one another and share Your Word. We ask you to prepare our hearts to receive the message dear to You. Let us be more committed to serving You and sharing the joy of Your love with everyone we meet, from this point on. Change our hearts, Father, so everyone who meets us, feels as though they had an encounter with Your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Do you ever feel that you don't make any difference in this world? Do you feel your contribution is too small to be significant? Do you struggle with wondering if it's worth it to even try?

I want to reinforce what I shared with you about your purpose to God. The entire world might scoff at your worth, but it doesn't change the fact that you were created with a purpose. You are here to be loved by God, and to love Him in return. Pretty simple, isn't it?

Read John 15:9-12

You were designed to enjoy the gifts and talents given to You in your DNA and in your spirit. But, like all gifts - your talent and inspiration, creative efforts, and material blessings are meant to be shared. God loves to see us revel in the joy of what makes us unique, what gives us energy, and brings us laughter and pleasure. You know what, He absolutely beams with pride when we begin to ask Him how we can use those gifts to improve the lives of others and point them to the Giver, Himself.

Read Philippians 2:4

"Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but _____ for the _____ of others."

And John 3:17

"But whoever has this ______'s _______ and sees his brother in ______, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the ______ of God abide in him?"

Let me tell you a story I heard a while back. If you know the original author, let me know so I can give credit where credit is due.

A man walked along the seaside and was amazed at the thousands of starfish that had been washed up on the beach after a storm. A little boy was dashing along the shoreline picking up the starfish and throwing them into the ocean, one at a time. The man laughed a little at the boy's naivete. "Son," the man said. "You are wasting your time. You can't make a difference. There's too many." The boy picked up one more starfish and put it into the water, then turned to the man and said, "Well, I made all the difference to that one."

This boy did not let the overwhelming magnitude of the situation keep him from doing what he could: saving one starfish at a time.

I think Helen Keller summed it up best:

I am only one, but still I am one.

I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;

and because I cannot do everything,

I will not refuse to do something that I can do.

The magnitude of your circumstances may feel overwhelming. You may wonder if you are significant in any way to the person you help.

Whatever you do may seem insignificant,

but it is very important that you do it.

I don't know who said that first, either, but if you do know, please tell me.

Read Hebrews 6:10

God does not forget when we bless others.

Let's pray:

Lord, you created us with purpose and intention. Reveal to each of us this week how we can use our gifts to help someone else. Show us how our abilities or resources can point someone to Your Son, Jesus Christ and to eternal salvation. Let us make a difference to just one; then to many. Show us how significant we are, to You, and to Your plan. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Paul Moore, courtesy of www.photoxpress.com

Jesus loves the little children

2010-11-08T17:48:00.000-08:00

Hello! Thank you for joining me in A Good Bible Study:StressLess!
Let's pray together:

Lord, thank you for children. Thank you for the children we were, and the children who we will bless and inspire. Give us hearts sensitive to the needs of children, Lord, and help us to worship you as would a small child! In the name of Jesus, amen.

Today is my son's birthday so I will keep this brief so I can honor his special day. I'd like to share with you God's thoughts on children, on this occasion.

Did you know God loves children? Let me tell you, He does.

From the time you were conceived:

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them. —Psalm 139:16

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. —Psalm 127:3-5

And as they grow up:

Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it. —Proverbs 22:6

All your children shall be taught by the Lord,
and great shall be the peace of your children. —Isaiah 54:13

"Jesus love the little children" - remember that song? Jesus cares for children and pays attention to how we treat them.

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:10-14

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. —Matthew 18:1-6, 10-14

So, people may have failed you when you were a child, but God saw it all. He loved you then, and He loves you now.

Are there children in your life? They may have no one but you to show them God's love. They may have no one but you to tell them they are special and uniquely gifted.

A child needs to know that their past is not an indication of their future. So do a lot of us adults.

Jess Lair said, "Children are not things to be molded, but people to be unfolded."

Father, help us to cherish the gifts of the child within ourselves, and the child within our influence. Help us to show each child we encounter Your love. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Pavello Sevsy, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

Being alive

2010-11-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome back friend! Today in A Good Bible Study: StressLess we are continuing to embrace our gifts and talents and how using them makes us enjoy being alive! Let's pray first:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for each way You have made us each unique, individual, and gifted. We ask You to not only reveal our gifts to us in an unmistakable way, but to also place in our hearts a sure knowing of how we can be a blessing while enjoying those gifts. In the name of Jesus, amen.

You know, sometimes it's tempting to de-value something that does not bring in money. "I'd like to take up pottery again, but it's just a hobby."

Other times we de-value what brings us joy and energizes our spirits because someone else doesn't think it's important or necessary. I say if it makes you a better you it's valuable. Your gift, talent, or skill may not be anything spectacular to someone else because it wasn't made for them, it was made for you. The only person who has to be enthusiastic about it is you.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." He wasn't talking about the enthusiasm of everyone else, because most people don't get on board with your dream until you experience success. Then they are all about cheering you on, right?

If you don't have anyone else tooting your horn, it's even more important for you to blast that thing yourself. I don't mean go around bragging about your gifts. I mean looking yourself in the mirror and telling yourself things like, "God loves me. God is always working in my situations. I am an awesome creation of God! I am talented and excited about sharing my gifts to brighten someone's day. God is bringing me people who appreciate my gifts and they are on the way!"

I'd like to especially encourage those of you working in the helping industries. You might be in the health field, or working with the elderly, or may be in social services. There are a lot of jobs in which we see situations that break our hearts and we can't do much about it. Some of us work with people that don't know how to appreciate our help, and they might even resent it on some levels. When you are used to being hurt, you don't go around trusting everyone with their hand out to you.

Helping people who can't - or won't - help themselves can drain your enthusiasm over time. It's even more important in your situation to intentionally build in moments of joy, of passion, or being alive. So, what do you do alive?

Commit to it now. This week for at least 5 minutes I am going to
_______________________,
___________________ or
_______________________ just because I enjoy it and it makes me remember I am alive!

(Just in case, I will say it - if it is illegal, or hurts someone else in the process, it's not building your spirit no matter how exciting it feels and how you justify it.)

This is a good time to bring up one of the most powerful things you can do to energize your spirit, and it's something you can do no matter where you are, no matter who you are with, and no matter what circumstances you are in. If you want to re-fill your enthusiasm, to gain strength when you are empty, and to rejuvenate your spirit when you aren't able to do much of anything else, seek a Holy Spirit encounter with prayer.

God says in His Word that He gives us everything we need. Ask Him. Believe Him. We know we can ask and ask and ask, but if we don't expect an answer anyway, we won't even notice when it arrives. We can choose to remain unhappy even though we pray for joy. We can choose to remain in our circumstance no matter how many doors He opens.

It's like the man standing on his roof during a flood. Three times people row or motor by in boats and implore him to get on, but the man refused. "God will save me," he said. After the man died and stood before God, he asked the Almighty, "Where were you?" God said, "I sent you three boats. Why didn't you get on?"

Read Philippians 4:13

Read Isaiah 40:28-31 and 41:10

Let's pray:

Father, You give us joy when we think there is no light left in our lamps. When I call out to You, You answer. Help me to remember to pray, "Lord You are Joy, You are Strength, You lift me up on the wings of eagles, You strengthen me, Your Holy Spirit fills up my spirit, I love you so much Lord, You have saved me, I praise You. Thank you Jesus for loving me. Thank you Jesus for giving me Life instead of death." Amen

Love, Karen

Photo by Shock, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

Let your light shine

2010-11-04T10:38:00.000-07:00

Hello again and welcome back to A Good Bible Study: StressLess. We are continuing with the 2nd key to living stress-less by recuperating our spirits.

Let's begin with prayer:

Father, today when it seems there are so many things pulling on our hearts, time, and attention, we ask you to give us a few peaceful moments to spend with You in Your Word, together. Jesus gave us Your Peace, not as the world gives it, but a deep and lasting peace in our spirits. Thank You for that. Please help us to rest in Your peace, Lord, when we start to think everything will fall apart if we don't do it right now. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Isn't this a wonderful part of the study? I love that you have spent the last few days becoming aware of how fabulous you really are in God's plan! Hot diggity!

You've got talent, kid, and God wants you to use it. Sing it with me: "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine (come on, no one is around, sing!) this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine . . . this little light of miiiinnnee, I'm gonna let it shine (now belt it!) let it shine, let it shine, let it shiiinnnnneee!"

What? Don't believe that God wants you to strut your stuff? Read these verses:

Matthew 5:13-16

Dust off those paint brushes, polish your speaking skills, get out your gardening trowel, sit down with pen and paper, shine up your tap shoes, search out scholarships for that training course, get out your gifts and let your light shine.

Your creative gifts are those things that when you do them, you feel most like yourself, the most joyful and alive version of yourself.

So what do you do enthusiastically? What are you doing when you lose all track of time? May be you come away physically exhausted but intellectually charged and emotionally at peace afterwards? What did you do for fun in the 5th grade?

Get out that gift from the things-I-used-to-enjoy box!

"When Howard Thurman spoke, he filled the entire room with compassion, truth, keen intellect, and joy." He mentored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and helped found the first intercultural and interdenominational church in the US (Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples.) Thurman said "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it! Because what the world needs is people who have come alive!"

Now, there are those who are thinking, "Aren't we supposed to use our gifts to serve God?" We will get to that. But, be assured, God loves to see you enjoy the gifts He has given you! It brings Him joy to see you joyful and celebrating His goodness. All good things come from God and when we enjoy what He has given us, it is pleasing to Him that we acknowledge Him and celebrating His generosity.

Read Deuteronomy 14:22-26 (New International Version)
"Tithes

22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.

24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish.

Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice. 'Now at first, enjoy being filled up in your spirit. Let yourself have fun again doing what reminds you of what it is like to be alive and creative. Let others be blessed by the new found brightness in your eyes and spring in your step.

27 And do not neglect the Levites (meaning priests or pastors) living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own. 28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands."

Are we as New Testament believers called to support the ministry and give to widows, orphans, and the truly poor, as we are able and with happiness that we can help someone else? Yes. I invite you to read 2 Corinthians 8 and other verses on your own in which Paul describes collecting offerings to help the people in various churches, and also to support the leaders in the churches (with basic necessities not rich homes and cars) so they can focus on ministry. But, that's another bible study.

In the meantime, God says enjoy your gifts, and bless others with them as well. So, go and enjoy being the un-duplicatable, remarkable, one of a kind, genuine YOU!

It was Howard Thurman who said, "We were all born originals. The tragedy is that most of us die copies."

Let's pray:

Father, You are so good to us! Open our eyes to see You as You are, not what our religious minds have made of You. You are the source of fun, enjoyment, peace, and true joy! Give us a godly sense of fun so that our celebrations honor You. Help us to get over feeling like we are only worthy when we are working, sacrificing, giving, giving up, and giving in. Thank You for helping us to see ourselves as You do: valuable, creative, and life-filled! In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Salvatore Vuono, courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Let's get excited

2010-11-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Thanks for meeting me in A Good Bible Study: StressLess.

Have you discovered your gift? May be more than one? Share your thoughts with me, I'd love to hear all about it. Let's get excited about ourselves!

For now, let's pray and invite the Holy Spirit to fill us with His Wisdom as we open the Word:

Hello Lord, thank you for this day. Sometimes we are thankful the day is over. Whatever is going on in our lives, please open our hearts to You and calm our spirits. We invite Your Holy Spirit to reveal the kind of wisdom and knowledge only You can give, today. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Yesterday we talked about our spiritual or Spirit-given gifts. Today we are going to talk about what God puts into our DNA, and shapes through our experiences into talents, passions, and callings. Sound exciting? It is - you are an incredible creation. It's time to recuperate our spirits by discovering our creative gifts!

We get dry in our spirits. We get worn down and out. But God created us with passion and joy and some of us only know that we are longing for something, longing to be something or to do something, but we don't know what it is.

Sometimes we think we need a new relationship. Sometimes we think we need a new town. We just get restless because we know we are more than this. We are made for more than this.

You know what? You are right!

We are going to rekindle something placed in you, that was for you. It might be something you used to enjoy but let go when others didn't "get it." It might be something you are not "supposed" to be good at because no one else in your family approves. It might be something you have always admired in others but didn't think your ability was worth improving. Are you starting to get a tingle in your spine that what I am saying is true?

Like me, you are an individual. No matter if you have become a parent, a care-giver, a spouse, a volunteer, an employee, a business-owner, a missionary, a doctor, a servant, unemployed, homeless, friendless, or just empty.

You came into this world with certain dreams and desires instilled in your spirit and it's time to wake them up!

Before we go any further, I want you to spend some time thinking about what you loved to do, or spent time doing when you were about 10 years old. About the 5th grade. How did you play? What made you feel good, or talented, or right?

What did you do because it was fun, or natural, or people complimented you on, or just seemed like the thing to do?

I realized a few years ago that I was lost in my roles of wife and mother. I didn't feel lost, I mean the essence of me was lost somewhere in the layers of who I was to everyone I loved and served.

Everything else seemed secondary and frivolous. But I was shrinking in my spirit. I was giving to everyone but me. I was encouraging my children to dream and discover themselves and celebrate their talents and yet, I denied them a daily example.

You know what I figured out? That no matter what role I have (because things change in life) I am still a woman, a unique individual, with my own interests and talents and dreams. I didn't have to exchange the essence of who I am in order to be a good wife, mother, teacher, volunteer, etc. In fact, I was giving less than I could have because I wasn't accessing my real strength, my passionate spirit!

I started thinking about what I would do as a kid, just because. Can you guess what I came up with? I wrote. I drew and painted. I directed skits for my friends to put on. I rode my horse and played with my dogs and cats. When everyone was asleep on Saturday night, I snuck into the living room and watched Saturday Night Live on low because it was about the only thing I had in my life to make me laugh.

I didn't do any of that stuff anymore. Till now.

I started doing the things that make me feel like me again and it has opened up a new world and a new career for me. I am passionate about my life, all of it, not just the parts that serve other people and so are "worthy."

By recuperating my spirit through using my creative gifts, I am giving my children a more balanced and happy mother, I am setting a great example for them to model, I am a more relaxed and spontaneous wife, and I have more energy to give to the projects I choose to be involved with.

Sure some things had to go so I could become creative, but that's life. We make choices. People get over them.

You know what else? People who have something they are excited about - passionate people - achieve their goals, attract like minded people, experience more joy and feelings of satisfaction . . and feel less stressed.

Luke 8:16 ESV “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light."

Psalm 150:1-6 ESV - "Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!"

Proverbs 15:13 NIV - "A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit."

James 1:17 NKJV - "Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."

Lord, thank you for all the gifts You have given us. Rekindle in us the spark of Your Creative Spirit! Let us get excited about the person You made in each of us. Open the doors for us to praise You with our talents. Let us sing, dance, and get loud about it! In Jesus' name, amen.
Love, Karen

Photo by Mat Hayward, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

You are gifted

2010-11-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome! I'm so glad to see you back in A Good Bible Study: StressLess.

We are discovering how to recuperate our spirits and today, recognize our gifts. We can't enjoy our lives, or help anyone else enjoy theirs, unless we are running on a full tank of Holy Spirit joy ourselves.

Read Romans 5:5 and write below what God pours into our hearts:
___________________

Did you know you are gifted? It's true. May be you weren't in the "gifted program" in school, and may be no one ever patted you on the head and told you so, but I'm telling you now - and here is how I know. Read 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11

Spiritual gifts are given to each of us by God, in order to strengthen us and encourage us in our faith, as well as enable us to help one another.

What are all the spiritual gifts God gives believers through His Holy Spirit (by the way, we've all been given at least one)? Write them below. I've taken the notes from my Nelson NKJV Study Bible to explain further what these gifts are.

Now, the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each of us for the profit (benefit) of all. We are given the Holy Spirit as believers and can manifest or show evidence of the Holy Spirit working in our lives, or be used by Him to help others.

And, prepare to be shocked (some of us): we are all given a spiritual prayer language by the Holy Spirit as well. We are instructed to pray often using this tongue as it is direct communication between our spirit and God, and the neat thing about it is, it keeps our minds out of our spirit's business.

I don't know about you, but I can start getting off on tangents when I pray, and I love that I can't understand or interfere with what my spirit prays in tongues. Sure it sounds strange at first, but I obey God and do it, because I know He knows my heart, and He makes it right, even if I do it wrong at first - so have courage, get off by yourself, and let yourself praise Him in the tongue only He understands!

If this is new to you, stop right now and read 1 Corinthians 14:1-25!

The Word of ______________ through the Spirit - practical application of knowledge.
The Word of ______________ through the same Spirit - ability to teach knowledge or doctrine (beliefs)
______________ by the same Spirit - the capacity to believe in God for extraordinary deeds.
Gifts of ___________ by the same Spirit - ability to heal in Jesus' name
The Working of ___________ - ability to perform miracles and wonders as did Moses and the prophets
____________________ - ability to tell a new revelation from God or give a divine explanation of a previous revelation. Paul says that although we all speak in tongues to pray to God for our own needs, he wishes that we would all desire to have and use the gift of prophesy even more, because praying in tongues only helps ourselves, but prophecy (and also the public interpration of tongues) helps everyone else. This is going to be exciting or challenging for some of us but pray, and read the scripture and ask God to help you understand His Word.
Discerning of ____________ - being able to recognize the work of God versus demonic spirits in the church
Different kinds of __________ - probably to preach or speak in different human languages miraculously
Interpretation of ___________ - ability to understand and translate spiritual tongues spoken in gathering of believers so all can benefit
This gift is not listed in the same verse, but in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 he finishes with saying the greatest gift of all is the ability to love. If we have Christ, we have the ability to love because He is love.

Notice the gifts are not given by "spirits" such as through "channeling" in which a person allows a spirit (always a demon whether the person wants to know that or not) to possess their body in order to give knowledge. Read verse 11 again.

"But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills." NKJV

We are also gifted with talents, interests and desires which we will cover in more detail tomorrow. For now, I invite you to pray about these gifts, and ask God to reveal which gifts you have been given to use for His glory.

Don't worry, we've all got at least one. Think about instances in which you seemed to suddenly know something that you didn't know before. May be you can quickly grasp a Scripture and explain it to others. Perhaps you are able to be faithful in any difficulty when others struggle over the slightest disappointment.

Have you ever prayed with someone, or touched them in prayer, and they were healed? Do you have a sense when someone is preaching whether it rings true to His Word, or seems more of a manipulation of Scripture to serve the speaker? Think about what comes easily to you, but not to others.

If you still can't see your gift (s), ask someone who not only knows you, but also is intimate with the Word of God and loves Him. Ask God to reveal your gift(s) and choose to believe that He will.

Let's pray for discernment of our gifts, now:

Lord, what a joy to know that You created each of us with not only a purpose, to be Your child and to be loved by You, but also a divine purpose. We are gifted and special and useful! Open each eye Lord over the course of this day and the coming week to our gifts and how we can be of good use to Your kingdom, Your children. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Salvatore Vuono, courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

You're greeeaaaaaat!

2010-11-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

Hello again! I hope you had a wonderful weekend, and if you didn't, today is only going to get better from here on. Let's pray and begin A Good Bible Study: StressLess, where you learn how to be the best thing to happen to everyone you meet today! Hey, didn't you know? You're greeeeaaaat!

Lord, here we are again, meeting up to get immersed in Your Word and in Your love! Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit, so we can always receive Wisdom and discern the Truth. Help each of us to be changed by today's message. Let us come to you quicker when we need love, truth, understanding, insight, or comfort. In the name of Your Son, Jesus, amen.

Yesterday we focused on thinking of ourselves less. I don't know about you, but I tend to ruminate on my past. I don't worry all that much about the future, I know God's got that, but my past - well, there's my challenge.

My best defense is to immediately tell myself, "Stop it." Or "So what?" Meaning so what if that's what I did, that was then and if I had it to do over again I would - so move on. The fact is we can't change what anyone did to us, and we can't change what we've done to anyone else. If you are repentant (which means to go in a new direction), forgive yourself and move on.

Satan loves to trip us up with our pasts, doesn't he?

And he loves to use other people to beat us over the head with it. The truth is no one knows our history, or why we've made the choices we made at the time. All we can do at this point is make amends and move forward. If we are sincere, and someone isn't ready to receive our apology or accept the changes we've made, then we've got to move and let God change their hearts.

Read 1 John 1:9

Staying stuck is like continuing to live in the past instead of accepting "life happens, then you grow." I'm not talking about making excuses, I'm talking about accepting who we are and what we've come out of, and allowing ourselves the freedom to be forgiven and enjoy what we've got today.

Read Isaiah 43:25-26 then flip back to 1:18.

God says He forgives and then forgets in a way that is not re-memorable in heaven. So, forgive, make amends if needed, and live new choices. It's easy to say you've changed and people may not believe it until they see it. That's fine because if you are sincere, they will see it and it won't matter so much to you if they do or not.

Sometimes we are the ones who won't let someone else have a new beginning. Sometimes we only see the effects of someone else's past in the way they treat us today. People are in pain all over the world. We see how they are, but we don't see what made them that way.

It's like that t.v show where the people come out after the audience has been given a run-down of what terrible thing they supposedly did, and the audience just boos them as they walk on-stage. So, what's the first thing out of that guest's mouth everytime?

"You don't know me. You don't know me!"

And you know what? We don't. We don't know why someone makes the choices they do, or what pain is underneath that hard exterior. It's difficult to be kind to someone like that . . . but it doesn't have to be.

I'm going to share something with you that made a big difference to me when I managed a shoe store in Sacramento California, and I had to deal with all sorts of people. Some of them had lifestyles that honestly made me feel uncomfortable.

However, some of these same individuals came back to my store over and over to buy shoes. One particular man told me why. He said I didn't make him feel weird or uncomfortable in my store. He felt accepted and important.

From my standpoint, I wasn't there to judge. I was there to sell shoes. But, looking back I can see that one reason I was able to put aside my own judgements and have compassion on some people that would normally lead me to feel awkward myself, was because of something I learned reading about the life of Mary Kay Ash (of Mary Kay Cosmetics.)

In her biography Ms. Ash said something I have tried to remember ever since. "Treat every person you meet like they have a sign around their neck that says, 'Make me feel important."

Can we do that? Can we set aside what we think about someone's clothing, piercings, tattoos, parenting, way of talking, where they grew up or where they live, religion, politics, etc., and just spend a minute making them feel important?

Because they may not be important to you, but they are important to the Maker of Heaven and Earth. God put you in their path just to make them feel His love on earth.

Do you want to feel important? Just go make someone else feel like a million bucks. Your whole day will get better, trust me. Some of you know me personally, and you know I love to compliment people and I love to tell them why I think they are great.

And Mary Kay Ash is a big reason why, and my Father's opinion is the other reason why.

Do I get something out of it? You bet. I feel great knowing I lifted up a friend, or a stranger for that matter. I feel wonderful, blessed, loved by my Father, and important to that person's life.

Read Matthew 5:14-16. You are a light to someone else, and to God.

Read Matthew 23:11-12. Every time you humble yourself to help someone, lift someone, you become greater in the eyes of God.

Read Mark 9: 35 and 10:44-45

and finally

Read John 13:12-17.

Jesus always goes first. He never asks us for more than He already gave.

Father, we thank you so much for giving us Your Son. Thank You for knowing what we need before we know it ourselves. Thank You for going first in everything. Give us servant's hearts, Lord. Help us be great in Your eyes, instead of in our own. In Jesus' name, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Andrey Kiselev, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

Me, me, me, forget you, me

2010-10-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to A Good Bible Study: StressLess! Let's pray and continue on de-stressing our lives:

Oh Heavenly Father, I want to start every day showing my gratitude for Your blessings. I know from Your Word that You love to bless us, and love to hear our thankful prayers. Open the storehouses of heaven for each person seeking You today Father, and give us ever more grateful hearts!

As we open Your Word today, let us be glad at what we find. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Today we will continue filling up our spirits and reducing stress. I love knowing much of what I see as stressful is actually under my own control. If that is the case, and it is, then I can do something about it!

Think about it - if everything is outside of our influence, what helpless, hopeless lives we would lead. And that's just not the case.

If you want to change your perspective on the situation you are in, try thinking about its effect on you - less. Get your mind off yourself for a while. We spend far too much time thinking about me, me, me and not enough about what someone else is going through.

Read Matthew 22:36-40

Love others as yourself. Spend some time giving others what you give yourself - time, energy, thoughts and prayers.

You've heard the saying that there is always someone worse off than you? How about the fact that you feel bad about your own problems until you listen to someone else's? Give it a try. Call two or three people today and ask them how they are doing. Just listen and before long you will discover that everyone is going through something.

Sometimes our problems really are catastrophic, but most of the time there is nothing going on that is going to prevent the sun from coming up tomorrow, if you know what I mean.

I say every day I don't bury a child is a good day, because that's the worst thing I've been through. I could just as easily say every day that we don't lose our house and business due to a major shift in the economy is a good day, too. Guess what, no matter what I've experienced in life, the sun keeps coming up and a new day of possibilities arrives, even when I've felt it a major insult for having done so.

Even during that time of wondering and waiting to see if our child would live or die, I couldn't sit around and weep all day. I didn't want to stay wrapped in that pain and sorrow every moment. I couldn't do anything more than pray, or anything more powerful than pray, so I chose to keep living each day during the uncertainty.

I found focusing on my other children's needs to be a real blessing. I appreciated even more their health and presence because of the loss of their brother. And I realized that as terrible as my situation was, there were mothers out there that lost all of their children at once, in a tragic car accident, in a fire, or in a war.

Read Matthew 20:26-27

In a way, this verse is saying "get over yourself." The best way to be great (and I add to feel great) is to focus off of your own situation for a while and go bless someone else. Especially if you can't do one thing about your situation - then stop thinking about it for a while! Find someone that you can help and you will discover by helping them, you helped yourself.

You know, our lives really do feel less awful when we consider our problems in comparison to those of others. Just turn on the international news sometime and get a real eye-opener to the way much of the world lives. You know what I've found? No matter how bad it is, once I'm past the worst of it, things can only get better from then on.

Look, I'm not suggesting you think less of yourself, just think of yourself - less.

Some of the most sinful and destructive behaviors in our human condition stem from thinking too much about how we are not getting what we want, when we want it. It's a sign of our times: the "Me Generation."

Listen to our music, look at what's celebrated on t.v. The most popular shows are on reality t.v. which often just highlights people being as sinful and attention-seeking as possible, so the rest of us will watch.

Read 2 Timothy 3:1-7

What will people be like in the last days? List all the things we will love instead of God:

____________
____________
____________

Sound like anyone you know? Sound like . . . you?

Lovers of themselves, money and pleasure. Focusing on what we want and how to get it. Having just a form of Godliness, but denying the real power of God in our lives. Always learning and never able to to come to the knowledge of Truth.

The Word tells us to turn away from people like this. Turn away then from ourselves because I don't know anyone, including myself, who doesn't think far too much about themselves, money, and their own pleasure.

Let's pray:

Lord, I am sorry for thinking so much about myself and not enough about the needs of hurting people. I've got pain, and I know you care about what I'm going through. I'm going to start trusting Your good plan for my life and spend more time being a part of Your solution for someone else's problem. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, including getting my mind off of myself. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by John Keith, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

True Friendship

2010-10-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hello! It's great to weclome another day and to see you again in A Good Bible Study: StressLess! Let's talk about true friendship and what that means to our stress level.

As always, we will begin with prayer:

Father, I want to focus on being grateful for what is good right now, and for the good plans You have for each of us. Thank you for the fact that I can study Your Word online with friends I may never meet in person but can share a love for You and a desire to grow in You. Thank you for each friend reading these words with me! Bless them today, Lord. And thank you for everything good You are planning for each of us today. Help us to see every good thing in our lives, today and always. Let our prayer today be "Give me joy - Lord, I want it and I want You!" In the name of Jesus, amen.

Gratitude - it's the quickest way out of anger and pain and into peace.

Read Psalm 136

You know, I really hope you will take the time to look up each bible verse yourself. It's a privilege to have access to bibles in this country and there may come a day when it's not possible to openly read God's Word. Knowing for yourself what God says is powerful. Reading scripture activates that power in yourself. So, give that to yourself and never just take someone's word for what the bible says: look it up yourself and ask the Holy Spirit to give you discernment to recognize Truth from falsehood.

O.K., well done. Let's move on.

We've talked about the power of gratitude. Another way to quickly change your mood is to quit dwelling on what makes you so frustrated and instead talk it out. "If you share your pain, you cut it in half. If you don't, you double it." By the way, if you know the source of that quote, please let me know.

Now, I'm not saying go tell everyone you know what so and so did to you. I mean get ahold of a trusted friend and share what's making you so upset - with the goal of feeling better afterwards, not justified to keep on being angry.

We women are usually better at this because we like to share what's going on in our lives. That's one reason we tend to live longer than men.

I have to work at this because usually I won't talk to anyone else about what's going on until it's so bad I am ready to explode or throw in the towel. I do talk to God about it, but sometimes it helps to share your situation face to face with a trusted friend. That is key, because if you are thoughtful about who you share with, you are going to be more likely to seek counsel when it's a small dilemma and not a huge issue.

Now, I caution you not to just dump all over someone and leave them feeling blind-sided. Talk to someone with intention, not just to vent for the sake of releasing energy.

Read Proverbs 29:11

Think about who has your best interests at heart and ask if you can confide in them about your situation. Don't share your pain with someone who only listens for their own enjoyment, or who can't wait to tell you what they would do and what you should do.

And please keep it out of work, because either the person is going right into the next cubicle to spread a version of your truth around, or they are going to take your personal life into account the next time a professional decision needs to be made.

Talk to someone who is vested in your success, in helping your marriage, in supporting you as a parent and in your growth as a human being, not someone who is going to encourage you to make some rash, selfish decision. We can have a lot of friends, but they are not always going to give us wise counsel.

Read Proverbs 27:6.

It means a true friend can lovingly tell you the truth, even if it means telling you what you are doing is a mistake.

It's tempting for friends to just put a stamp of approval on whatever emotional decision we want to make. We want to confide in people who will listen, and then when we have been truly heard, help us get back to forgiveness and move forward.

Finally, talk to someone who gets you.

Read Amos 3:3.

Sometimes people just don't understand where you are coming from, or how your experience has shaped you. It's hard for everyone to relate to everyone else, at all times. So, confide in someone who won't get tripped up by their own response to what you have to say, but will still guide you to forgiveness and gratitude.

For example, my husband is one of the best people to talk to when I have a problem, unless he's the problem! It's funny, but true. We're like any other married couple, always learning to communicate.

I've learned though, to not expect him to remember anything I have to say if I am just sharing my day, going through my process of listing what I did, and what I wore, and what I think I'll make for dinner, you know the drill ladies.

I used to get frustrated with him saying back to me, "You never told me that," when I can tell you what time of day it was and what his facial expression was at the time, and how many times the dog barked while I said it. I recently had a little experience in his shoes that changed everything for me.

You see, I was driving with my husband when he mentioned the car seemed to be pulling to the right. It reminded me that our neighbor said the same thing when he towed the car out of the snow for me a few days before, then drove it to the garage. When I told my husband about it, he asked "Why did he think it was pulling?"

I said, "I don't know. All I heard was pulls to the right, blah, blah, blah, guy stuff about cars." My husband smiled and I had an epiphany right then and there. I said, "Hey, is that why after I tell you about my day and later you swear I didn't say a thing about something, it's because all you heard was "cooking, kids, dinner, blah, blah, blah my ears are bleeding, blah?" He looked at the road ahead and said, "Yup." Ahh, the moments of deep understanding between a man and a woman . . .

Now I let him know when I am just "getting out my words" and when I really need him to pay attention. The point is, not everyone is the best person to talk to about all things. So choose wisely.

Let's pray:

Lord, thank you for giving us friends. Please help us to be good judges of who, and when, to talk to about our problems. Help us come to You at all times, and in all circumstances, and to believe that You are working on it. In the name of Jesus, amen

Love, Karen

Photo by Aliaksandr Zabudzkohoto

Come on, get happy!

2010-10-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hello, don't you love that old Partridge Family song? You can't help sing along, "Come on, get happpppyyyyy!" Good stuff makes you smile and makes you happy, you can't help it.

Yesterday in A Good Bible Study: StressLess we talked about the real need to keep choosing good input, especially if we have more than two negative people in our daily lives.

God says to cast all our cares on Him, and I would say that also means casting those hurtful, mean, and critical influences at His feet as well. We can't change anyone, but God can change everyone.

Let Him start with you and me:

Lord, I'm choosing to give you everyone that doesn't understand how to love me. I want to make room in my heart right now, for Your Love. I can't change them, so I want You to change me instead. Make my heart glad, make me see their pain and pray for them, remembering their issues are about them and not about me. Give me joy and gladness in the midst of the storm, because I know if I can learn to be happy when everything seems to be going wrong, there is no limit to my ability to enjoy the good stuff. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Today we are moving into recuperating our spirits. We've got to fill all three tanks: body, mind and spirit. If you leave out one, you will still feel out of balance.

The easiest and quickest way to fill your spirit is to develop a sense of gratitude. Gratitude is the most powerful form of positive thinking. There was an article in Real Simple Magazine that suggested four benefits of expressing gratitude for what you have, instead of focusing on what you don't like in your life. They were

giving you a sense of control - take credit for what's going well and you will feel more competent and able to create a better life
improving your health - people who keep track of what they are happy about, such as in a journal, exercise more and sleep more than people who don't write down blessings
coping better with trauma - reminding yourself of what you are grateful for makes painful memories less intense when they surface, and actually surface less often
increasing feelings of self-worth and self-esteem - choosing to concentrate on grateful thoughts leads to feeling better about who you are and what you deserve in life

The most difficult time to feel thankful is when we are angry. Sometimes our minds get so stuck in our emotions, like a gear jammed in the transmission. No matter how hard we try to shove it in gear, it's not moving until you clear the obstruction.

We think other people and situations are the obstruction and until they change, we can't get over our anger. I'm telling you that is wrong and the when you understand this, you will be free from ever feeling angry for one second longer than you choose to.

Try it now. What have you got to lose except your grumpy attitude. Get out some paper and write down everything about your life that you can be grateful about. Start with the the basics: are you alive? Are you breathing and capable of making today better in some way than yesterday? Are your children, or siblings, or friends healthy?

Keep going, you've got it. Don't discount how powerfully this will de-stress your life just because it's simple. That's the beauty of it. Here's something to help you get your head around it: It is impossible to feel two emotions at once.

Choose thoughts that result in anger, or choose thoughts that result in gratitude. Say it out loud and your chemical response cannot help but follow. Thought creates emotion every time. It's not easy at first, but it is simple, and it does work.

Read Colossians 3:12-17 and Read Psalm 118:24
Lord, so much of what You instruct us is so simple it seems too easy to work. Help us to just take one step today to appreciate the good in our lives. Help us appreciate You. Bring to mind our list of gratitude when we are angry or hurt and help us choose to say out loud to You, "Thank you for this Lord." Amaze us with how quickly we can go from mad to glad, if we choose to do one small thing to experience gratitude. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Graur Raz Vanionut, courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

How to not let your past overgrow your future

2010-10-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Let's continue on from where we left off yesterday in A Good Bible Study: StressLess.

Heavenly Father, thank you for leading us to spend this time together sharing Your Word and seeking Your Wisdom. Help us to be wise in making friends and in being a friend. We know You want the best for us and from us, so we ask You to give us everything we need today to feel relaxed and willing to live life in the way You planned for each of us: stress-less when at all possible. In the name of Jesus, amen.

We talked yesterday about letting go of people and activities that drag us down. We've all got some "friends" that just drain our energy and enthusiasm for life. Often it's our own family members that are so mired in their own past, they can't allow us a future. It's alright to let go.

Read Titus 3:9-10
We don't have to be mean about it. We don't have to shun all family affairs and stick our noses in the air.

I always tell my kids if you think what you are doing is the right thing, the honorable thing, then you don't have to do it in the dark, or hide it, or avoid talking about it. It's alright to just say it with love.

Read Matthew 7:1-5 We are not going to focus on what others are doing wrong, so much as what you want to do right and good in your own life. We can let others know what we need and they can either contribute, or they can't or won't, and that is alright because that's all they have to give and we've got to press on. It's not about an ultimatum. It's about choosing good input and letting go of negative influences.

Read 1 Corinthians 2:14

That's what you are doing when you open a dialog and let people know you are ready for a change in your relationship. You are giving them the opportunity to grow with you, or find someone they feel more comfortable hanging around. Now, give them a shot, it might take a while for them to stop squirming and accept this is for real. Some will do just that. Some won't. Move on.

There are just some folks who aren't ready to rise up. They would just rather wallow in misery and if you free them up they can find like minded people and leave you alone. You might not have to say anything at all because negative people don't stay around people who smile and change the subject when gossiping and complaining are all that's served. You're just not much fun to them anymore and they might even let you know it.

You've got to decide if you are living to please your critics, or to please your Lord.

Read John 10:10, Romans 12:2 and Colossians 3:23-25

Do you know what a critic is? I don't know who said this (and if you do let me know) but I love this quote: "A critic is a person who goes into the battlefield after the fight is over and shoots the survivors."

These people want to pull you back every time you try to raise yourself up out of your mess. They can't wait to remind you of who you've been and what you've done and all the mistakes you've made.

These are the people who want to tell you you're not ready for something good, that your gifts are of no value, that your purpose is not valid, and your choices in life: career, marriage, or even the color of your hair are wrong.

Now, I can't do one thing about those people except pray for them. I can't get them out of the family. I can't make them quit the job I have to work at with them. I can't get them to stop teaching at my school, or dating my friends, or driving the bus I take every day.

I can only limit my exposure to them and take every chance I have to fill my self up with good stuff so they just don't have a hold on my emotions so much anymore.

As part of The Compassionate Friends, a support group for families who have lost a child, I met a lady who shared with me something her son wrote before he died. I want to share it with you because I thought it was incredibly insightful, especially coming from a young man who passed away about a year after he wrote it. His name was Jeffrey Sanderson and he said, "Don't let your past overgrow you future."

Mark Twain said it like this, "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always try to do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!"

So keep your mind off your obstacles and away from people who can't see your vision, and focus on your reward.

Henry Ford said, "Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."

We've talked about recuperating our bodies, and now, our minds. Tomorrow we will talk about recuperating your spirit. I'll meet you here, in A Good Bible Study.

Dear Father, once again you show us in Your Word that the plans You have for us are good, to help us, and to lead us into a peaceful life. Help us be wise in choosing new friends, as we gently release those who aren't ready for the blessing You have for us now. In Jesus' name, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Dan, courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Energize me, Scotty

2010-10-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome, it's great to see you in A Good Bible Study: StressLess! We are going to start getting energized this week so let's pray and get started.

Lord, Heavenly Father, the Maker of Heaven and Earth - how meager and small our lives were before we found you! Thank you for offering us peace instead of anger, joy instead of sorrow, and comfort in the midst of grief. Help us to remain open to You even when we are angry and don't understand other people's reactions to us. Help us to be full of You, instead of our own emotions, Lord. Thank you for opportunities to get into Your Word, so we aren't blown about by every mood and every attitude. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Does our prayer give you an idea what we will be discovering in the Word today?

Yesterday we talked about our need to rest, and recuperate, our bodies through sleep and relaxation. I don't know about you, but I know I am not at my best when I am not rested. I don't cope as well with frustration. I don't respond as quickly or easily to situations, or even complete tasks with all the skill and ease that I normally would.

In short, I'm not myself, and can't give my best when I'm overtired. So, obviously rest on a regular basis is one of those "musts" in order to live a less stressful life.

Rest is one way we fill our resources. We've also got to deal with people and situations that empty our resources.

Number one for most of us: energy-draining people. You know who they are - stay away from them. Weed them out of your life, if at all possible.

There are some people that you have to walk on eggshells around. Others just complain your ear off! Some don't have a good thing to say about anyone (and if you think you are the only one they don't talk about, think again.) And others just take pleasure in being mean at your expense (I'm just kidding, can't you take a joke?) - know what I mean?

Mark Victor Hansen (co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series) says, "Your income, the results you create, are dictated by the five people you spend the most time with."

Who are your five?

We can handle about two negative people in our life. If you've got more than that and you just can't limit your time with them, it's more important for you than ever to fill yourself up every day (even all day) with positive people, reading positive material, listening to positive speakers and up-lifting music, and watching funny or inspiring television programming.

Zig Ziglar, one of the most influential speakers of all time, says, "People say motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing, that's why we recommend it daily."

I say that people who don't want to go anywhere, and don't want to do anything, don't want you to go anywhere or do anything with your life, either! It makes them look bad and misery really does love company.

What does God say?

Read Proverbs 12:26
Read Proverbs 13:20
Read Proverbs 14:6-8
Read Proverbs 17:20
Read Proverbs 22:24-25
and finally,
Read 1 Corinthians 15:33

I've found that the best thing I can do for my kids, is to put them in the company of other kids who are being raised with good values, and who are expected to live them out. A group of negative kids are not going to rise up to the one kid trying to do things right. The majority of their influence is going to drag my kids down, not the other way around. As a parent I know this from experience.

I know I can't be the one positive force in a whole bunch of negative, gossiping, lazy, don't want to help themselves or anyone else-friends. It's just going to drag me down to their comfort level.

In the same way, I can't be watching Cheaters, then CSI, followed by the news every night and expect to feel positive and hopeful about my day. Now I am not saying you shouldn't watch your favorite show. But, let's be real.

Let's get intentional about what we are filling up our minds with. What we think about affects the way we feel, it's simply biochemical science. Our thoughts influence our chemical and hormonal response which then affects our moods.

Just try this: Ask yourself who you spend the most time with? Which shows you watch the most? Which music you listen to most of the time? Which activities do you do and are they improving your mood and health, or making it worse?

Now, how's your mood most of the time? How likely are you to try a new activity or be excited about a new project? Are you taking action on the things that you say are important to you? Are you feeling stress-free and positive most of the time?

This is just for you - I don't know your answers and neither does anyone else. This is all about you taking stock of your own life, and your own choices, and seeing if there is any room for change. We either want things to change or we want them to stay the same.

But, we can't keep doing the same things, hanging around the same people, listening to the same negative music and depressing shows, and thinking things are going to be any different.

Make one change this week. Just one. Tell me if you don't feel just a little bit better, now - go on, you can do it!

Lord, we need some help because even thinking about change is scary for a lot of us. Thinking about change is far worse than actually changing. Help us to just be honest. Help us to see any areas we can feel more stress-less, simply by getting out some negative, and putting in more positive. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

The second key to stressing less

2010-10-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hello again - I'm so glad you are back in A Good Bible Study! Let's pray and get right into the second key of stressing-less: recuperate.

Dear Lord, thank you for giving us keys in Your Word to living the life You desire for us. Thank You for going first, then pointing the way. Help us to heed Your Wisdom in all things. Help us to enjoy this life, to see the blessings no matter the pain, and to both value hard work, and restorative play. Balance, Lord, is what you offer and what we need. We accept in the name of Jesus, amen.

Key one: Authenticate: be real, genuine, true to your self and to God.
Key two: Recuperate: learn to rest (and rejuvenate) your body, your mind, and your spirit.

I used to think resting, playing, relaxing, taking time off to restore myself was just plain lazy. I grew up in a household in which play was punished and work was valued. I don't think my parents intentionally modeled and enforced these ideas. I think they were not intentionally doing anything except trying to avoid and decrease their own pain. Be that as it may, I've had to learn to value rest as much as I value work, but it took nearly burning out my body, my mind, and my spirit to make the change.

The first key, authenticity enables us to live awake, to choose behavior instead of merely reacting and responding, to celebrate who we are, and who the people we love are. Authenticity is freedom!

The second key is just as important.

Read Genesis 2:1-3

God always goes first. What did He do in those first 6 days? He created, He worked at His intended Purpose, He enjoyed His efforts, He did the right thing, and He did it all right.

What did He do on the 7th day, the last day of Creation? He __________.

That's right. He rested, he looked at everything He made and saw it was good, so He took a day to simply enjoy it.

Was he tired? Of course not. God speaks and what He intends is accomplished. He showed us what is the right and good order of things: Work hard, create, bring forth your ideas into reality and do this for no more than 6 days in a row - then stop creating and enjoy what you have done for an entire day.

Rest your body, rest your mind, and restore your spirit. It's not rocket science.

Speaking of science, I just love how eventually science "discovers" the Bible really is correct in its description of how things work in this universe. For example, we'd all love to drink caffeine all day long and stay up all night and do, do, do. But our bodies are not designed to operate without rest.

Dr. Andrew Hegman says that a deficit of just two hours of sleep in one night is actually sleep deprivation. He says athletes can handle no more than a 2 hour sleep deficit before their performance suffers. Optimally, we each need a minimum of 6 hours of sleep each night, and preferably 8-9 hours.

When you are sleep deprived (and in our society, who isn't?) your stress level increases dramatically. You can't think, you can't remember things, you can't concentrate. You want the fancy terms? Sleep deprivation, even just a couple of hours a night, results in decreased cognition, short term memory lapses, poor task performance, and lack of concentration.

Staying up all night for even one night, and definitely by the third, alters your personality, and culminates in psychotic and bizarre behavior. Now, you are starting to understand a few people in your life, right?

The simple fact is that just like our cars will eventually break down without regular maintenance, our bodies need rest and recuperation to not only be at our best, our most creative and productive, but also to merely maintain sanity!

Exerst at the National Sleep Foundation say:

"short sleep duration is linked with:
•Increased risk of motor vehicle accidents
•Increase in body mass index – a greater likelihood of obesity due to an increased appetite caused by sleep deprivation
•Increased risk of diabetes and heart problems
•Increased risk for psychiatric conditions including depression and substance abuse
•Decreased ability to pay attention, react to signals or remember new information

And, "according to researchers Michael H. Bonnet and Donna L. Arand, 'There is strong evidence that sufficient shortening or disturbance of the sleep process compromises mood, performance and alertness and can result in injury or death. In this light, the most common-sense 'do no injury' medical advice would be to avoid sleep deprivation."

I realized a few years ago that I couldn't keep on working 7 days a week and never planning in recuperation. My body couldn't take it anymore. My mind was suffering from depression and anxiety. My spirit was crying out for some peace. Can anyone relate to what I am saying??

Are you in dire need of some rest? Does your spirit crave a day just to look at the blessings of your hard work and enjoy them?

When is the last time you let the housework, or yardwork, just be messy and undone for one day while you laid around by the lake, or the pool, or the river with your family? When is the last time you spent a Saturday taking your family out to lunch, and then to a matinee? Would everyone in your life reject you if you took a day simply to enjoy everything, and everyone, you are working so hard for?

For me, it became about self-preservation. I was becoming overwhelmed with stress. It was affecting my mental health. It was creating disease in my body as I moved into pre-diabetes. It was destroying my spirit because I had no peace, no control over my life, no joy of laughter and play.

God didn't tell us to say yes to all the people who have no problem putting one more thing on our plates to make their own lives easier. He said do the right thing, and do things right, and do it in the right time, then stop. He said create for 6 days, and then recuperate on the 7th and enjoy what you have made.

Enjoy the home you have made. Enjoy the spouse, enjoy the children, or enjoy the friends, enjoy the family, enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Your body needs rest in order to repair injury, in order to put you into dreaming so it can process information and re-boot systems, in order to keep your personality and sanity intact. It also needs rest to keep your metabolism in proper working order otherwise, we gain weight or have difficulty losing it.

Your mind needs rest in order to de-stress and process the fight-flight-fright chemicals and hormones that have been surging through your body and brain all week. You want to be really productive and creative? You want to have a surge of inspiration? You want to see answers where you only saw problems a few minutes ago? Rest your mind and let it play.

I get all my best ideas when I switch my mind to something else, something restorative. In fact, I carry around a micro-recorder so when I get a great idea during my Sabbath, my Saturday day off, I can keep track of it and not be tempted to go back to work during my free time. I wouldn't give up that 7th rest day for anything now, and now that my family sees how much it improves my mood and sense of humor, they wouldn't ask me to give it up either.

Oh by the way, your friends and family just might resent, ridicule, and actively try to undermine your determination to take a day off and rest. They'll get over it, but you won't if you keep on pushing yourself 7 days a week. We were created in His image, remember. He took the seventh day off. Maybe being God and all, He knows a thing or two.

Read Matthew 11:28-30 and fill in the following blanks

"Come to me all you who ________ and are heavy laden, and I will give you _______. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am _______ and lowly in heart, and you will find ______ for your souls. For my yoke is ______ and my burden is ________. "

When I first began this study, you might remember I posted every day. I wanted to honor God with my faithful study and sharing of His Word. I realized it was becoming difficult to plan family time away from home, rest time, because I thought I needed to have at that computer every day and write.

But, God reminded me He values mercy over sacrifice (Hosea 6:6 and reinforced by Jesus in Matthew 9:13 and Matthew 12:7 - look it up.)

He reminded me that disobeying His command to rest one day a week in order to honor Him, even to write a bible study, didn't make sense. Even though this isn't work, I don't get paid do it, I'm not obligated by someone to do it, and this really is something I need and enjoy, I still need to put it down at least one day a week and do something else, something just for me, something requiring nothing of me but enjoyment.

I now post 5 days a week, spending Saturday at rest, at home, relaxed and rejuvenated. Sundays are not a rest day. I spend that day worshiping and enjoying being around other believers, which is also a good and necessary thing, but it doesn't replace my need to have a complete down day once a week. I need a pajama-all-day day, or a sit in the garden and watch my kids and dogs play - day.

I need it because it was designed into me, and into you!

Let's pray:

Father, help us to see how valuable, important and necessary a day of rest and recuperation is to our minds, bodies and spirits. Help us to see we cannot be at our best, our most creative and productive without rest and relaxation. Help us demand it of ourselves, just as fervently as we demand performance the other 6 days. Help us to see that we are not only modeling what is right for those who follow us, such as our children and our employees, but we are obeying Your Word. Thank you for showing us the Way, thank you for answering our call to enable us to obey. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Paul Ribeiro, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/

The difference between religion and spirituality

2010-10-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome, again, to A Good Bible Study: StressLess. Do you ever wonder what the difference is between religion and spirituality?

No, I'm not talking about some new age concept. I mean the elements of man-made religion, and the essence of a spiritual relationship with our Father, through Jesus Christ. Hmm, this could get interesting. Let's pray:

Father, we want a real relationship with you, one filled with Your Spirit, and ours. Show us how to live authentically in Your Presence, in Your Love, in Your Will. Help us discover more today in this study, about being spiritual and not just religious. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Let's be honest. I love my church, and I love the fact that I have a regular, central place to go to meet with other believers and praise God in song together, hear a meaningful sermon, and just be allowed to say any ol' Christian thing I want. But, let's be honest. Church is filled with people.

People are fallible. People have issues. People are not perfect. Some people, actually use church as a means to have access to children. Just like great things happen in church, for some of us, church has been a source of pain because of some particular people that also were involved in that church.

May be you feel God has let you down. May be some people who claim to know God have let you down. I am so sorry for you, about that.

Let me empathize with you, because I know church is full of people looking for answers, looking for salvation, looking for improvement, and some of us are struggling with some real demons trying to keep us from having any peace and joy in church, or out of it. But, yes, you know me well enough now to know a "but" was coming.

But, getting to live a life of joy and peace means letting go of those things, and people, that have hurt us in the past, so they don't get to keep on hurting us in the present. It means realizing that people are not God. People are just people, whether they are running to God, or away from Him, we are still just people and still making mistakes.

Some of my worst mistake have been made because I was reacting against people who hurt me in the past, or against my own image of God.

We can get so caught up in the man-made rules, or doctrines, of religion that don't necessarily have anything to do with salvation, the real nitty-gritty of are you "saved," going to heaven, know Christ, have a real relationship with God, or in essence "spirituality."

Now, don't give me that tired old line,"I don't go to church but I am spiritual." The truth is that if you are spiritual in the sense that you have a Holy Spirit-filled and -fueled relationship with God, you are active in that faith, not just blowing it off and saying you are "spiritual." You might as well say you are lazy, you are doing what you know is wrong and don't want to be around anyone who is going to call it like it is, or you are serving some other "god" and just want to call it a lesser name like spirituality, instead of idolatry.

I'm just saying . . . I'm just keeping it real . . . right? Ouch.

There is however, a difference between religion and spirituality and here is my opinion on what it is.

Religion (rules having little to do with God's Love and His Will) is for people who are afraid of going to hell. Spirituality (an emotion-filled, dedicated, can't live without you God because the alternative is unthinkable!) is for those who have been there.

Religion is for those afraid of going to hell; spirituality is for those who have been there.

I've been to hell. How about you?

Have you loved a child who rejected all you offer? Have you buried another? What's your hell?

Is it addiction? Is it abuse? Is it a past that won't let you go? Is it family? Is it your health? Is it fear? Is it pain? What's your hell, because I bet you have a story.

I grew up with religion, but once I'd been in hell a while, I found spirituality.

No matter what church I attend, no matter how great, or limited, the Pastor, no matter the quality or lack of the music, no matter how entertaining the Sunday school, my relationship with God, my spirituality, remains dependent on my being willing to be real, to be authentic, to be genuine with God.

He already knows my heart. It's no secret to Him what my issues are, what my problems are, what my strengths and gifts are. He doesn't need me to be real for Him, He wants me to be real for me. It's for my benefit to know myself, so I know where my strength is. It's so even when religion, people, pastors and priests, fail me, I know already that He doesn't.

You know that song that says, "He knows my name?" Listen to it sometime. It played while I buried my son, Matthew. It reminded me that spirituality is about my relationship with not just any spirit that wants to deceive me, but with His Spirit, His Holy Spirit in me and with me and for me.

Today is the last post about the first key to living StressLess. Authenticity. Keeping it real. Let's pray:

Father, if I am reading this, keep me real. Keep me genuine. Keep me authentic. Make me solid, so people don't rock my boat. Help me remember that church is a community of believers in You, in Your plan, not our own, and we are all just humans looking for answers. Help us stay focused on the Truth, and not on the minor differences between us. Help us to be spiritual, and not just religious. In the name of Your Son, Jesus, who died for my sins, and rose again to show me the way to You, Father, amen.

Love, Karen

Photo by Gina Smith, courtesy of http://www.photoxpress.com/