Day 73: The Altar of Sacrifice Restored

Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted among the earth (Psalm 46:10)

As I began my worship time this morning, God reminded me of the importance of stillness in His presence. This is the time when God reveals Himself to me, when I get my instructions for the day, or when He reveals the truths of His word to me (or all of the above).

This 90 Day devotional that I am going through has several scriptures that are given for memorization. I notice a theme of cleansing in a few of them today.

John 15:2 Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth that it may bring forth more fruit.

John 15:3 Now ye are clean through the words which I have said unto you

We must be cleansed. The them of salvation is about cleansing.

Psalm 19:9 The fear of the Lord is clean...

James 4:8 ...Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purify your hearts ye double-minded

Psalm 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way...

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart O God...

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17)

The death of Christ is sufficient for salvation. We must have faith to believe in the death of Christ. I was not there when Christ was crucified. At no time have I seen Christ in person to know that He is alive. How then do I know that His sacrifice is sufficient?

I believe in Christ because the Bible declares Him as the Savior of the world. Why then do I believe in the Bible as truth? I believe in the Bible as truth because when I meditate upon its themes, my life is transformed. My frustration is turned into joy and peace. The hatred that my natural man so easily gravitates toward is replaced with love. I never have to "try" to get rid of it. Just as the effect of playing dirt is to become dirty, so is the effect of meditating on God's word to bear the fruits of the Spirit.-to be cleansed of the filthiness of the works of the natural heart.

Another reason I believe in the Bible as the inspired word of god is prophecy. The Bible is the only book to predict with accuracy events that cover an unbroken time span of 2300 years. No other book or religion can make such a claim. So, if the God of the Bible can predict the future with such accuracy, then certainly He knows will happen in my lifetime and can guide me to make the best decisions according to His will for my life.

If you are struggling to know which way is the right way, I challenge you to study the prophecies of the Bible. Don't know where to begin? Feel free to contact me.

I will write a separate post soon for those w ho would like to study on their own.

Until then, Study to shew thyself approved...

Day 72: The Shewbread Restored

I have been going through the book Prayer 90x: 90 Days to a Spiritually Fit You by Pastor Ivor Myers. Today's topic is about the restoration of the table of shewbread after being cast down during the dark ages.

Psalm 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to they word

II Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth

It is God's word that cleanses us. We must take heed to it.

What does it mean to take heed to God's word?

God has commanded us to study to shew ourselves approved that we not be ashamed. God's word must be divided.

What does it mean to rightly divide God's word?

During the Dark Ages people were not allowed to read God's word. It is the word of God that cleanses and so I can only imagine the "filthiness" of mankind during this time.

It is only the knowledge of truth that will save us from deception. When the truth is know, all deception can be spotted. God said that He would sanctify us with truth and that His word is truth.

John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: they word is truth

In the 1300's, John Wycliff translated the Bible into the common language of the people, thereby restoring the table of shewbread that had been cast down for so long.

Lord thank You for the privilege of having Your word. Thank You for the changes it has made and is making in my life as I heed its counsel and meditate on its meaning. Continue to reveal Yourself to me that by beholding Your character I may be changed into Your likeness. Remove the things from my life that take me away from You. May your word be as sweet as honey in my mouth. May my desire to spend more time among its pages grow as I learn of You and Your love towards me. May I never be separated from Your loving kindness that is better than life.

Photo Credit

Weekly Menu Plan

As I gear back up for the school year one thing I am working on is menu planning. I must admit that I hate menu planning. I have no idea why, but I do not like figuring out what I want to eat for the week. Coming up with this week's plan wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. I must say that I am thankful to have good cookbooks and money to go shopping with!

Sunday-Haystacks

Monday-Lasagna Roll ups, mixed vegetables and salad

Tuesday-Leftovers

Wednesday-Oat burgers and gravy, scalloped potatoes, salad

Thursday- Black beans with yellow rice and vegetables, salad

Friday-Pizza, salad

Sabbath-Broccoli Quiche & peach cobbler (for potluck at church)

Note: All menu items are dairy, egg and meat free.

20th Year High School Class Reunion

June 8th made 20 years since I graduated high school. Boy how the time flies. It seems like just a few years ago that I was hanging out at Band practice or staying after school for pom-pom squad practice.

My 20th year reunion was July 15-17 and boy did we have a blast. Friday we had a Meet and Mingle at Seville. Saturday we met at the beach behind Flounders, and Saturday night we had a semi-formal dinner at the Pensacola Yacht Club.

I won Least Changed, again. My classmates went on and on about how I look exactly the same. Here are a couple of pictures from high school. :-)

Debutatante Ball-Dec '90

High School Baccalaureate

and here are a few pictures from the reunion to compare:

This picture is from my 10 year reunion. The banner is for "Least Changed".

And here is a picture from this year's semi-formal event. OK maybe I do look a lot like I did in high school. My secret-Eat healthy, Exercise, Trust and Obey God.

Bees-A Lesson in Obedience

One of our most favorite things as a family is to study nature. As a result, we have several nature dvd's by the Moody Science Institute, one of which is about bees.

Bees are marvelous creatures. We learned about how they construct their houses and how the hexagram is the perfect shape. We learned how they control the temperature of the hive. We learned how they protect the hive and many more things. The one thing that stuck out the most in my mind, was how they communicate.

When a scout bee is telling another bee where the food source is, he wiggles his body so many times a minute to tell how far away the food source is and angles his body to tell what direction according to the sun. As I was meditating on this, I thought of how the world rotates and how the angle of the sun changes. So let's suppose a bee told another bee to fly at 30 degrees, within 30 minutes, those directions would be inaccurate!

How true is this of when God tells us to do something. What He told me for today may very well not even work if I try it tomorrow!

What a powerful lesson from the bees that delayed obedience is disobedience! Not only must I require strict and prompt obedience of my children, I must model it in my daily walk with my heavenly Father. My prayer is that I will not only obey, but that I will obey quickly, completely, without questioning or complaining.

The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Psalm 19:1

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. I Samuel 15:2