2013 Word of the Year

I am extremely tardy posting this.. but not as tardy as 2012. I was looking back to see all the words I have chosen since starting this tradition of having a word of the year... 2008 was the first year and my word was Gratitude (I never posted it here)... 2009 -  Peace... 2010 - Change ... 2011 - Choice ... 2012 -- Less / More .. I never posted about it!  Needless to say 2012 was not a good blog year... I really did not put the time and energy into it that I needed to. Hoping 2013 will be better.

So now on to 2013's word... I have known what my word would be for a while.. really before 1/1/2013.. God started speaking to my heart about it months ago...  the word is KNOW.

Know.... might seem an odd word, but there are several aspects of it that God is working in my life.

First off... an rather obvious.. is a need to KNOW Him... not just Know about Him but really Know Him.  The Hebrew word for Know is Yada and it means to know .. well in the Biblical sense... Adam knew Eve.. to be intimate with someone. Now I am not talking about sex .. I am talking about knowing someone so deeply.. so intimately.. like a husband and wife know each other.. that is how we are to know God .. what I am striving for in my relationship with Him this year.  To Know Him more... deeper... in ways I have never known Him before.  And I will confess that the thought of that excites me and scares me.  I have grown in my relationship with the Lord most in the difficult times.... and I fear the answer to that prayer.. to know Him more.. might require a walk through the valley.. but I also know it will be worth it, if that is the path He has chosen for me.

Second... as I think of wanting to Know Him.. to Yada Him.. I am struck by the reality that He already knows me that intimately.  Read Psalm 139!  In fact, He Yadas me more than any other person / being ever has and ever will... more than my parents.. more than my children.. my best friends.. even more than my husband, who knows me better than anyone else on this earth.  No human can know me the way and to the depths that God knows me.. in fact, I don't even know me as well as He knows me!  Mind boggling, isn't it!?  This year I want to grasp that.. to realize I don't have to hide the real me.. to pretend to be who I think He wants me to be. I can trust Him with all of me because He already knows Me.. and He loves me even in the messed up state I am in.

Third.. I want to Know His Word more.. some of that is practical knowing.. I am striving to dig in and study more.. to memorize more Scripture this year.. but again, I am striving for something deeper. I want to Know His Word not just in my head, but in my life.. I want to see it at work and KNOW without a shadow of a doubt the realities of it. When I say that God will supply all my needs I want to KNOW that to my core.. when I say He will never leave me or forsake me, I want to KNOW it without a trace of doubt... I want His Word to be a part of me... as Hebrews 4:12 says, it is living and active.. I want it to be living and active in me.

So I am striving to KNOW more this year... not just head Knowledge.. heart knowledge that is walked out in my life and that glorifies God so that others see Him and not me.

I want to be able to say with Paul...  

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  (Phil. 3:7)

Choosing Peace...

I had the privilege of hearing Kay Arthur speak a year or so ago.  Her focus was on John 14. Her first bit of teaching stopped me in my tracks and has stayed with me ever since.  John 14:1 says "Let not your heart be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in Me."  


I have heard that verse many times... it is used often in conjunction with a death.  And the message is usually that when our hearts are troubled, we can / should trust in God.  That is true... not a bad message or a wrong one. But what Kay pointed out was the wording... LET NOT... Don't Let your heart be troubled.. That puts it all on me. It is a choice... I choose to have a troubled heart or one at peace because I trust in Him. 


So no matter what life sends my way, I have a choice as to how I will let it effect me. 


I was reminded of that choice again today as I read John 16:33  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”


Again, another verse I am very familiar with.. but today God showed me the choice in it. Jesus tells us that we WILL have trouble in the world. No choice there. It is going to happen. But before that He says He has told us things (His precious promises) so that we MAY have peace.. MAY.. might.. not will. Peace is not an automatic guarantee.  Again, it is a choice we make.  


So today...no matter what my emotions and circumstances tell me, I am choosing to "let the peace of Christ rule my heart" (Col. 3:15) instead of letting my heart be troubled and full of unrest.


How about you? What are you choosing today?

Parenting....

Today one of my children (who are 20 & 24 so not really children) asked my advice on something. The answer I gave was not what the child wanted to hear. I believe the child knew this would be the answer, but hoped for something different.  I hated disappointing the child, but had to speak the truth in love.  My kids know that and expect it from me.

As I have pondered a bit on this, I have thought about my relationship with my Heavenly parent.. my Father.. I wonder if I ever ask Him something... state my case.. try to sell Him on it.. knowing full well what He is going to say but hoping that maybe, just maybe, this time He will answer differently.  (I the Lord do not change.. Malachi 3:6).

And when He answers with no or wait or yes, you have to do that... and it isn't what I want to hear.. then I am disappointed.. hurt.. miffed.. even though I know He would never steer me wrong.. that whatever He says is best for me.

The difference, however, is God KNOWS His answer is right. I can only hope mine is and trust God with the outcome. He sees the future.. I don't... but just as my child trusts me to speak the truth and love unconditionally, I trust my Father to do the same for me.. and for my children.

All's Quiet... or is it?

This past weekend was Easter.  I remember reading lots of Facebook Statuses and Tweets on Twitter on Good Friday about the Crucifixion.. and many saying Sunday's Coming!  All true and all good.

And I knew on Easter Sunday I would be reading lots and lots of comments on His Resurrection and being alive. Again.. all true and all good!  But what about the day in-between?

There really isn't anything said about that Saturday in the Bible. We know it was a Sabbath day, so we can assume the Jews were observing the Sabbath.  We know Jesus' followers were hiding.. scared.. no doubt confused and troubled.

But again, the Word is quiet about that time and so it would be easy to assume everything was quiet.. God was not working.. Jesus was in the tomb.. all work had ceased.  But of course, that is not true. God never sleeps nor slumbers. (Ps. 121:4)  He is always at work. And He was that day.

We know a lot happened while Jesus was in the grave. We know He overcame the power of sin, death and hell. How.. we don't know the details.. and we don't need to know.  Bottom line... things were happening.. things on the Spiritual realm that we could not see.

And how I praise God they were happening!

And still happen!

We all have "good Friday" moments in our life.. when someone "bad" happens.. something that overwhelms us.. something outside our human capacity to cope.. and when we are in those situations, we are looking for answers.. a way out.. results. And for whatever reason, we often have times after the "good Friday" event where it seems God is quiet... nothing is happening.. we are just coasting in our anguish.  But guess what? OUR GOD does not sleep!  He is at work.. always!  And He has not forgotten us.  There is a Resurrection Sunday coming for us and our situation... it may not be this side of heaven.. it may not look the way we thing it should look.. but it is coming.. God has made a way... He is at work. We need only wait and trust that even when it is "Saturday" and we are scared and troubled and it seems we are alone, we are not. Our God is working in ways we cannot comprehend.. doing what is best for us and for His kingdom.

Delight in the Word

"If Your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction."  Ps. 119:92

No doubt this verse shows that God's word upholds us.. protects us.. etc. during difficult times, but I also see a daily application.  if I delight in something, I will make time for it.  So if I delight in His Word, I'll be in it .. daily.. reading, studying, meditating, memorizing.

Doing this daily, even when life is going good, builds that foundation.. that fortification.. for when the tough stuff happens (and it will happen!) and it is easier to delight and dig in when life is going smooth.

Trails, testings, etc are to build and strengthen our faith.

I believe "smooth" sailings are to build our faith's foundation.. our footing as it were.. to sharpen our swords... to condition  ourselves.. to make ready for what is to come.

That "smooth" sailing is our study time and those trials our exams. We can't really cram because we rarely see the exam coming.. they are more like pop quizzes! And I, for one, want to pass... so I need to be in the Word daily!

I am praying for a heart that delights in the Word... praying that Jeremiah 15:16 would be true in my life...

Your Words were found and I ate them. 

They were a joy to me and the delight of my heart 

for I am called by Your Name, O Lord.

Whatever

This quote from Wesley L. Duewel's book Mighty Prevailing Prayer continues to roll around my mind...


"Whatever gets you too busy for prayer time, whatever distracts you from holy prevailing, whatever robs you of hunger for God, for souls, and for time for prayer warfare is a hindrance to God and His kingdom. You cannot afford it." 


Whatever...


There is a verse in the Bible many call the Whatever verse. 

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, 

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—

if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Phil. 4:8

It ties in with the thought from Duewel. If we are focusing on the Phil. 4:8 Whatevers, we will not get too busy for prayer.. we will hunger for God.. because if we are focusing on these Whatevers, we are focusing on Him and His truths.


The next verse in Phil 4 strengthens Duewel's thought also... 

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. 

And the God of peace will be with you. Phil. 4:9

When we are in the Word... seeking, studying.. getting to know Jesus, we will see what He does.. He seeks the Father, He prays, He trusts God etc. and when we do what He did... when we put it into practice, we will be in prayer, hungering for God, participating in prayer warfare ...


As God has shown me over and over and over and over... it is about Him.. being in His Word and in Prayer with Him!

A One.. Two Punch

Catching up on my reading in the Daily Walk Bible today. This verse really grabbed me... 2 Kings. 17:41 "Even while these people were worshipping the Lord, they were serving their idols.  To this day their children and grandchildren do as their fathers did."  


WHOA!  Who or what am I serving today?  Work, money, media, computer, me (selfishness), food, laziness... the list in endless! 


And a reminder that what I do today affects the generations to come. What kind of legacy am I leaving?


Then I opened up the book Mighty Prevailing Prayer by Wesley L. Duewel and read this....


"Whatever gets you too busy for prayer time, whatever distracts you from holy prevailing, whatever robs you of hunger for God, for souls, and for time for prayer warfare is a hindrance to God and His kingdom. You cannot afford it." 


Again WHOA!  Obviously the Lord is telling me something here. Time for some soul searching... by the Holy Spirit! 

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts. 

See if there is any offensive way in me,   

 and lead me in the way everlasting.  Ps. 139:23-24