What Are You Hungry For?

This week as the kids and I were having family worship, we talked about the daily manna that was provided for the children of Israel in the wilderness. We talked about how Christ is the Bread of Life.

I am a firm believer that my kids get into trouble when they don't have something specific to keep them busy and out of trouble. I believe this same concept applies spiritually. God gives us His Word, our manna. We are to eat of it daily. The truth is that just like we are hungry everyday for physical food, we are hungry everyday for spiritual food. Christ can feed us or Satan can feed us.

I told my kids if they are full on the Bread of heaven, they won't have room to eat the junk food that Satan offers.

What are you hungry for?

My Prayer Journal-Flight TWA 800

I have been impressed more and more lately to keep a prayer journal. I pray for others often, but, I never write those prayers down. For me, there is something powerful about writing things down. I am very much a technological kind of girl. I have a laptop, an I-touch, a blog...you get the picture, but I still keep a paper datebook and I still find pleasure in writing things by hand.

This morning while I was having my quiet time with God, I thought of a lady who lost her four children in TWA flight 800 on July 17, 1996. What's odd about this thought is that were 240 people that lost their lives on that flight and this lady has been on my mind ever since. This morning I prayed for her and I wrote my prayer down in my journal. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will comfort her and give her the peace that passes all human wisdom. I have no idea why this lady stays so heavily on my mind and after so many years no less, but I am learning to be obedient to the promptings of the Spirit. I pray that one day whether on this earth or in the earth made new, I will get to speak with her and hear of her story of how she made it through.

Is there a seemingly random person or a thought that comes to your mind often? Consider writing it down and presenting it before the Lord in prayer.

Devotional Thought- By Beholding We Become Changed

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed unto the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. II Corinthians 3:18

We have heard it time and time again, “By beholding we become changed”. But what does it really mean? God has made us as creatures with impressionable minds. In a nutshell, we are like sponges. We absorb what we immerse ourselves in. Whatever we focus on is what we become like, thus the phrase, by beholding we become changed.

If we want to be like Christ, we must spend time getting to know Him and continue to “hang around” him by immersing ourselves in His word. The good news is, that we never have to try to get rid of our sins. Spending time with Christ will make us want to abandon them.

The opposite also holds true, if we spend time listening to a lot of negativity, we will become negative.

A few examples come to mind to illustrate how this miraculous change comes about. For those who have children, you know when your children have new friends or have been introduced to a new concept. How do you know?-by the changes in their behavior. They say things differently, their attitude is different, and their responses to you are different. Any parent who knows their children, knows when their children have different influences in their lives.

Another example that comes to mind is when I changed my eating habits. I added fresh raw fruits and vegetables (salad with leafy greens) every day and made sure I was drinking plenty of water. After doing this a while, I paid a visit to McDonald's. The same food that I had eaten often for most of my life, and enjoyed, was now disgusting. I had not made a decision in my mind to never eat there. After eating healthy, I no longer wanted to eat there.

So it is with beholding Christ. After we get to know His spotless character, how He sacrificed beyond comprehension, we become dissatisfied with who we are and we start to act like Him! Praise God that I don’t have to try to be like Christ. I can just spend time with Him and He’ll rub off on me!

Happy Easter!

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

The Creative Power of God's Word

Lately, for my devotion time, I spend some quiet time with God and allow Him to place thoughts in my mind. I then go to His word to verify that these thoughts are indeed from Him.

This morning, the words "void" and "creative power" came to mind. The first verse that I thought of was Genesis 1:2,3

And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

The next verse that came to mind was Isaiah 55:11

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it.

This next verse I found after doing a search on the word void: I beheld the earth, and lo it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light-Jeremiah 4:23

So here is my devotional thought from these verses: God's word has creative power! One pastor put it this way. Holding out a white handkerchief, he said, "If God says this cloth is white, it either is white or it will become white!" How powerful is that? What God says either already is true OR it will become true as He speaks it. His words hold the very same power for you and me. If things in my life are not going exactly the way they should be, I can speak God's word over my life and expect a difference!

If God spoke the world into existence (Genesis 1, Psalm 33) then certainly He can speak a change into a life that has gone awry. Be encouraged and know that God is still on the throne and He is still speakings things that are not as though they were and bringing them to pass!

My Core Values-Purity

A couple of months ago I began writing about my core values. The first on my list was Purity. The dictionary defines purity as the condition or quality of being pure; freedom from anything that debases, contaminates, pollutes, etc... Strong's concordance adds the words chaste, immaculate and modest to the mix.

I want my children (and myself) to be pure inside and out. I think of Mary the Mother of Jesus and how pure she must have been to be able to give birth to the Messiah-pure not only in body but in thought as well. This is the type of purity that I desire.

Now how exactly do you get (and keep) that kind of purity. Philippians 4:8 is one of my favorite scriptures. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there by any virtue, and if there by any praise, think on these things.

I use this scripture as a standard for the things we watch on television and any activities we participate in. Yes it means we abstain from a lot of things, but I am learning to keep my children's minds focused on other things to the point that they don't even ask for the television anymore. God is good!!

The Peace that Surpasses all Understanding

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. Psalm 119: 165

Recently I was deeply hurt and offended. As I mulled over the situation, my first thoughts were of anger, rage, disappointment, faultfinding, backstabbing-you know all those feelings that are allowed to rise up when you dwell on "stuff".

God quickly pointed my mind to His Word. I am understanding now more than ever why it is important to have God's Word hidden in my heart.

The first scripture He sent me to was Psalm 119:165 which says: "Great peace have they which love thy law" and nothing shall offend them. So I had to ask myself the hard and painful question: Why am I offended. According to God's word nothing should offend me.

The next scripture He showed me was I delight to do thy will yeah thy law is within my heart. Needless to say, there was not a whole lot of delighting going on in my heart. So I responded, "Point taken, Lord. Is there anything else you have for me"? to which he responded with Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee:because he trusteth in thee.

Why did I not have the peace that God promises I would have? Simply because I was not doing my part to have it. My mind was not focused on Him. I chose to focus on my problem instead and doing so brought on all the negative effects of such a poor decision.

Are you experiencing a lack of peace in your life? I encourage you shift your focus and put your trust in God. It worked for me!

Fall Back

As we prepare to set our clocks back to return to standard time, I am preparing for spiritual renewal. This time of the year is a great time to get back to early morning devotions if you have fallen off track. I think of how this is the time of the year to plant bulbs, and how those bulbs are covered with earth where they will, in the darkness, draw the necessary nutrients to blossom with color and life in the Spring.

What a wonderful time of the year to get up in the darkness (Mark 1:35), feast on the Word and spend time in communion with God before getting your day started, and then watch the fruits that will come around Spring time!

The harvest is near. I encourage you to get to know the Master Reaper for yourself. You will never be the same!

Gardening Update-A Path to Follow

Update 9/14/08 to add images

Here is a nice photo of our zucchini plant:

This is one of it's flowers:
And here is one of the zucchini on it:I still don't know what this plant is:
But it has flowers on it so I am expecting to see something budding from it soon. :-) I must remember to label next time!
As I have been focused on getting my thoughts together for the new school year, I haven't given much attention to our small garden outside. A part of my daughter's morning routine is to water the garden and plants outside. She has done a wonderful job with this and as a result the plants are thriving nicely. It' time that I started mapping out our fall garden and get things going as it will be fall very soon!!

As I sat here thinking of the garden and all the lessons to be learned from it, my mind went back to the bean plants. When I first planted to bean plants, the thought never occurred to me to stake poles close by for them to have something to attach themselves to. The plants sprouted, and then they developed these little "arms" which my daughter and I were both fascinated by. We couldn't seem to figure out what they were for. As the arms grew longer, they started to attach themselves to the arms of the other bean plants. They intertwined and became tangled and created a huge mess!

I separated them, trying my best not to damage them. I came back the next day or so only to find that they were entangled again. It was then that it occurred to me that they were tangling themselves together because no specified path had been laid out for them. Instead of growing upward, they were growing outward. When I finally provided poles for each of them, they stopped growing outward, grew upward instead, produced flowers and bore fruit!

What a powerful spiritual lesson in these bean plants. We as Christians can be sprouting and growing, but if we do not have a specified path that we are following, a path that leads upward, we will become entangled amongst ourselves.

Are you wrapped up and tangled up in others? Or is the path you are taking leading upwards?

Peace-True or False

A dear friend of mine forwarded an article to me from Crosswalk.com entitled "Christian Self Defense". There is a situation amongst other parties that I am dealing with that could use some of the principles outlined in this article and at first glance I began to apply them to that situation. But as I read further, I realized that these principles could and should be applied to my own life.

I despise confrontation. So much so that the flesh side of me would rather avoid the truth than deal with a fight. I realize that this is a MAJOR character flaw on my part. For the majority of my Christian life, I viewed Christ as peaceable, docile, gentle, loving, you get the picture. Doesn't the Word say " Behold the lamb which taketh away the sin of the world? Aren't lambs sweet and soft and fuzzy?

As I continue to walk this never-ending path of growth, I have come to realize that yes, He is that Lamb and everything that lambs represents, but He is also a God of truth and peace. And sometimes things have to get ugly and rowdy before they become peaceful.

I am reminded of the time when Jesus flipped the tables over. He had to disturb the peace, to bring order to God's house. So the question that I must ask myself as someone who avoids disturbing the peace at all cost is, when I allow wrong to continue because I don't want to "disturb the peace" am I really facilitating peace? And of course the answer is no because I often come away having this altogether too familiar conversation in my head: "Why didn't I say this? Why didn't I do that?" Basically my silence on the issue or avoidance of it altogether creates an unrest in my soul which attributes to false peace. I have temporarily created peace on the outside, by I am warring inside.

Here is one of the paragraphs from the article that I identified with:

In stark contrast to this way of life, both the Old and New Testaments are
replete with conflict, often accompanied with God's approval and favor. However,
Paul's admonishment "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at
peace with everyone" (Romans 12:18) has been taken to mean that we should never
"disturb the peace." Here's something we need to know: this is absolutely true,
when it applies to actual peace. Where there is real peace, we are to keep
peace. But where there is not peace, we are to make peace, and that can require
conflict. Peace is not merely the absence of tumult; peace means that things
have been made right, and where they have not been made right, it is wrong to
pretend perpetually that there is peace, justice, respect, and goodwill (see,
for example, Jeremiah 6:14)

The word balance comes to my mind. Jesus Christ was the epitome of a balanced life. When life is balanced, every now and then the boat will be rocked, the only other option is to be still. And we all know that if the boat is still, that means it isn't going anywhere.

As you strive to make true peace in your life, remember Isaiah 26:3 -Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Financial Blessing Update-I've Decided What I'm going To Work On

Today is day 23 of the 90 day Financial Blessing Challenge. I have decided that I am going to crochet some baby clothes (probably mainly hats) and donate them to the children's hospital.

What's interesting is that this idea came to me some a while back and I just never got started on it. When my Pastor gave the challenge, the first thing that came to my mind was the Children's Hospital. I wasn't sure that this was what God was telling me to do and so I waited. I had another idea come to my mind of starting a community garden, but I don't believe it's related to this challenge. Who knows, maybe I'm supposed to do both? We'll see, but for right now I will be looking for some patterns for baby hats and booties and all kinds of cute stuff!!

If you happen to know of any patterns that work up relatively quickly, please share!

30 Days to Connect with Jesus

Wordkeeping.com has added some new programs to its list, one of which is 30 Days to Connect with Jesus. I signed up to begin this program on August 1st. On yesterday, I received some questions for thought that I would like to share:

1. Do I honestly believe that God really loves me?

2. How do I give evidence in my life that I appreciate God’s love for me, and that I love Him in return?

3. Do I acknowledge God’s handiwork in nature, and do I let it tell me of His love for me?

4. What can I do to be more tuned to nature, listening to God’s voice in the natural world?

5. Do others see Jesus in my behavior toward them?

6. If the person closest to me shared their honest opinion of me, would they describe me as a loving, unselfish person?

7. Do I frequently think about what Jesus has done for me?

8. Do I realize how much my sins hurt Him, so that it breaks my heart?

9. Do I sense Him lovingly calling me to come to Him?

10. Do I feel my heart responding in love for Him?

Part of the e-mail says " Search your heart for your genuine beliefs. Go deep, and be brutally honest, and let your heart be broken in complete surrender to God. If you find that your answers don’t measure up to what is pleasing to God, ask Him to change your heart, so that you can be in harmony with Him. Each question can be turned into a prayer for God to make it a reality in your life."

I challenge you to do the same. May God richly bless you and may you be encouraged as you continue to live for Him.

Kickin' Up a Notch in My Private Worship

The other day I wrote a post about how I am kickin' it up a notch. This kickin it up will include my personal worship as well. One thing that I am learning is that you can have the best system in the world, but if it doesn't work for you, then, well, it doesn't work! So one of the things that I am working on is being me and doing what works best for me.

A far as my personal worship is concerned, I have found that it is absolutely essential for me to have it in the morning. Even if I just lay in bed and commune with God having never opened my Bible, I must take time to lay out my daily plans before Him and ask Him to guide me along the way. It is also during this time that I reconsecrate myself to Him. Paul said he died daily and so I must choose every single day to die to myself and allow God to be in charge. If I don't do that early in the morning before my day gets started, then by 9:00am self is fully alive!

One thing that I like to do in my personal worship is write down scriptures that I come across that relate to certain topics. So for example, I am studying music (which I will update how that is going in another post soon to come). If I come across any scripture that relates, I like to write it down so I have them all together. Then I can study, here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept.

Shereen over at Waiting For Him has a lovely post that fits exactly what I am doing and how my mind works. I LOVE index cards. I don't know what it is. Maybe the fact that you can change the order of them? I ordered a 4x6 box from Drugstore.com and I have already purchased the letter and number dividers so I am eager to get started.

How is your personal worship going? Is your system working for you? Are you ready to Kick it Up a Notch? :-)

What's In a Name?

Yesterday was my 13th year wedding anniversary. I must say that it has not been the easiest 13 years of my life, but God is good! As a result of this union, I have grown much closer to Him and my life has been enriched because of it. Growing closer to God is definitely a win-win situation.

At any rate, for dinner we went to a lovely restaurant on the lake and afterwards visited the gift shop. In the gift shop I cam across a card with my name on it. Here is what it said:

Yolanda

"Flowering"

The Lord is my rock

and my fortress

and my deliverer;

My God, my strength,

in whom will I trust;

My shield and the

horn of my salvation,

my stronghold

Psalm 18:2

Wow! Talk about an on time message. I think about my personality and how I am prone to despair. I took a personality test once and it said that I am easily discouraged. It is so true. But with God as my Strength and my Deliverer I can move forward anyhow!

I have put my name next to that verse in my Bible and plan on committing it to memory.

What does your name mean? Do you have a verse that seems to describe who you are or who God is to you?

Family Worship

Every morning after breakfast we have family worship. During this time we read and discuss a few paragraphs from a spiritual book (we are currently reading Steps to Christ), sing a hymn and review our memory verses. We have several Memory verses in our box and are currently working on learning passages such as Psalm 100 and Psalm 23. It's amazing how quickly the children can commit them to memory when you are reviewing them regularly.

For evening worship, we sing a song and read from the Bible. We have not been nearly consistent in our evening worship as we have in the morning, but just today my daughter asked if we could start reading the Bible again before we go to bed. I guess that's my cue to get it together! :-)

What do traditions do you have for family worship or for meal time or before bed?

21 Days to Spiritual Renewal

I received this e-mail that better describes the Wordkeeping method I have been using to memorize scripture. Please read below and sign up if you are interested. The next session begins July 1st. If you sign up, please leave me a message so I can keep you in prayer.

Dear Fellow Christian,

Is it obvious to you that we are living in the last days? Do we all need to have our minds fortified with the Word of God? Is your mind filled with the Words of scripture?

Take advantage of this opportunity to participate in the Wordkeeping program, which is designed to help you hide God's Word in your heart. For 21 days, starting July 1, you are invited to Fast from the World, and Feast on the Word. This is for all: the young, the busy workers, the busy stay-at-home moms, the retired elderly, the brand new Christians, and the seasoned soldiers in the Lord's army. All of us need the power of God's Word in our hearts.

Go to http://www.wordkeeping.com to learn more, and to sign up. There is NO CHARGE for this program. Those who have already participated may join again if they'd like. Please forward this email to all your friends who may be interested in this program.

As you read the following inspired counsel, why not make a determination to avail yourself of the help and strength God has provided in His Word:

We live in an age when to resist evil calls for constant watchfulness and prayer. God's precious Word is the standard for youth [and older people] who would be loyal to the King of heaven. Let them study the Scriptures. Let them commit text after text to memory, and acquire a knowledge of what the Lord has said. Sons and Daughters of God, p. 316

We must be better acquainted with our Bibles. We might close the door to many temptations, if we would commit to memory passages of Scripture. The Faith I Live By, page 8

My dear child, keep your mind stayed upon your Saviour, whose property you are. Tell Him all about your trials, and arm yourself with His promises. Commit His words to memory. Manuscript Releases Volume 3, page 133

Several times each day precious, golden moments should be consecrated to prayer and the study of the Scriptures, if it is only to commit a text to memory, that spiritual life may exist in the soul. 4T 459

Keep a pocket Bible with you as you work, and improve every opportunity to commit to memory its precious promises. RH April 27, 1905.

Wordkeeping is a program that will help you to do just what this inspired counsel encourages us all to do.

Jesus is coming soon! Let's get ready to meet Him!

May the Lord bless you abundantly,

Linda Kirk
(805) 239-1120

Wordkeeping-Next Session coming up soon

I really enjoyed participating in the wordkeeping program. I believe in my heart that feasting on God's word is the key to living a sanctified life. David says in the Psalms "Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee." (Psalm 119:11) And John 17:17-19 says that it is by God's Word that we are sanctified.

2 Corinthians 3:18 suggests that by beholding we become changed. How important then is it that we feast upon God's Word so that we may be purified and ready to meet our Saviour when He appears.

The next session for wordkeeping begins on July 1st. Please sign up if you are interested. You won't be disappointed. You will be challenged and your mind will be on heavenly things. God promises that He will keep us in perfect peace if we keep our minds stayed on Him (Isaiah 26:3) I don't know about you, but I could use a little peace in my life!

Christian Evolution??

I have had a few discussions with people who claim to be "Christian Evolutionists". They say that they believe in God's Word, but that they do not take the creation account literally. They believe some amalgamation of it. Something like, God may have set the world in motion, but that it is not possible that He created this whole world in seven literal days and that seven days represents seven vast periods of time (like millions or even billions of years) But Psalm 33:6 says: By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. and verse 9 goes on to say: For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.

My devotional reading for this morning reassures me of the thought that you cannot believe both theories. You must in fact choose because they are contradictory. The Word declares that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and the passage that seals it for me is found in Romans 5:12: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

This passage of scripture suggest that death entered this world by sin, which would mean that before sin, there was no death. So the dinosaurs could not have lived and died millions of years before people came on the scene. If you accept the fact that the dinosaurs died before humans existed, then you must reject Paul's writings.

I invite you to choose an all Powerful God that hung the stars in space. Stars that are larger than the distance from the earth to the sun (93 million miles). This same God can speak a transforming word into your life and give you life anew. Are you tired of the same ol' same ol'?? Choose God today. He is waiting to speak a change in you!!

Exalting His Word

One of my new favorite things to do is watch/listen to 3abn online. At first I really only watched Kid's Time with my kids and then I would catch a few shows if we left the computer on. One day while I was working, I heard a show entitle "Exalting His Word" with Shelly Quinn. In this show, Shelly teaches you how to take scriptures and turn them into affirmations. Yesterday's show was entitled "Glimpses of Grace That Stirred My Heart". Here is what she shared:

1. God has a brilliant plan for your life and that plan is to prosper you
Jeremiah 29:11

2. I didn't catch what she said for #2 because of (loud children background noise), but here are the scriptures.
Isaiah 46:10; Ephesians 1:11, Romans 4:17, Jeremiah 1:12

3. God's Word is Life
Deuteronomy 32:46-47; Matthew 4:44

4. Abiding in His Word will give you the mind of Christ
I Corinthians 2:16

5. Trust in God with all your heart
Proverbs 3:5

6. God will empower you, He will cause you to be what He has called you to be
Phillipians 2:13; Hebrews 13:20-21; Phillipians 1:6

7. Everything God does is for our eternal benefit
Romans 8:28-29; II Corinthians 3:18

8. You are included in Christ if He is your Saviour
I Corinthians 1:30

9. You are who God says you are
II Corinthians 5:17, I Corinthians 15:10

10. You partake of the divine nature by partaking of His promises
II Peter 1:3-4

11. All of His promises are yours-here and now if you pursue His way.
II Corinthians 1:20

12. Obedience is the pathway to blessing
Hebrews 10:36; James 1:25

I pray that you will be blessed as much as I was by the promises in God's Word.

Wordkeeping Update-Final Day

Today is the 21st Day of the Wordkeeping journey. The object of the 21 days was to "prompterize" 200 scriptures; 10 scriptures a day and then a final review on the last day. Of the 200 scriptures, I am able to say a little more than 100 of them with the prompts. I did very well the first couple of days and then I got behind and spent a few days playing catchup. Instead of trying to play catchup, I probably should have just jumped in where I was. There is something very phsycologically devastating about being behind and having to catch up!

My 10 year old, who only participated for a few days was able to say 50 of the texts using the prompts. Wow! So this is definitely a method that I will be using for her and encouraging her to use on her own in her personal devotion time.

Just so you understand the idea of what prompterizing is, I will include a few texts below with the prompts. You use the first letter of each word to help commit the scripture to memory. If you can say the scripture, just by looking at the letters, then you have it "prompterized". The ultimate goal is to be able to say it from memory and know where it is found.

Gen 1:1 ItbGcthate
In the beginning god created the heaven and the earth

Numbers 6:24 TLbt, akt
The Lord bless thee and keep thee

I must say that the first day or two was a little challenging trying to get my brain to look at these letters and form words, but once my brain "caught on" it was a sheer delight.