Romans 12
Questions
By the Grace God has given you are you able to challenge others? Why would you need to be aware of the grace of God just remind people how to think?
How do you think of yourself? To highly? To Lowly? In accordance with Measure of faith God has given you? Or in accordance with how the world thinks about you? In accordance with how God's word talks about you or in accordance with the world?
How does being a living sacrifice affect you being joined to others in a body? Which is more of a sacrifice, Serving God or serving others? Why?
Different parts with different functions: What about this requires transforming your mind? How does this require sacrifice? How does this naturally affect us...if we weren't learning to transform our minds?
One body...corporately, as a region, and world wide: how does that change your natural thinking (or how SHOULD it change your natural thinking) ?
Do you behave as though you really do belong to all the others?
Name someone who behaves as though they were connected to all the others.
Think of skin, although there are many cells skin covers every area of the body, connecting from the toe to the top of the head to the finger tips, Excluding of course eyes & finger/toe nails. Skin doesn't get much credit. How many times have you heard someone say “Oh, i just hurt my elbow and my elbow skin!” ? Or “I have a zit on the skin of my forehead!”? There is something about belonging to each other that assumes that together each individual part succeeds or suffers. Do you demand to receive credit? Or do you love to bless people, suffer with people, rejoice with people and be ok with not being given credit for it doing it “in secret”?
Name some one who seem to understand being connected or “belonging to each other” in the Body.
Tell some of the things that they do.
Name some ways that you could improve in this area.
Is having compassion on some one easier when you know them more? How about constructive criticism?
What Gift do you think that you have? ( Or do you want to receive from God?) What about this gift requires renewing or transforming your mind? What about this requires some dieing (living sacrifice) from you?
“Using it according to the proportion your faith” makes me think that you have to be renewing your mind, letting God build your faith, learning how to think, in order to really be everything God has called you and gifted you to be.
(c) Mary Walker 2007, used with permission
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Power in weakness.
He said to me, "my Grace is sufficient for you, Because my power is made perfect in weakness." So because of that I will boast all the more about my weakness, because He is seen so strong when it becomes obvious how weak i am on my own.
I feel ill iquiped for the work I do. Not because i don't have the trainning, but because without the Lord everything I do is vain. I am now teaching at the LFI programe 3 days a week. I have one class on mondays. It is similar to "prophetic worship class" that Terisa teaches. I call it "Singing the Psalms." Last week we looked at the Lords prayer, this week we will be singing psalm 63. This class has three purposes. For the 7 students (ok, and me too) to #1 grow deeper in their love and expression for the Lord, to #2 understand worship and prayer more, for them to not just be foggy idealistic things we do, but to be real and understandable, and to #3 give the students a better understanding of scripture.
Wednesday and Friday I teach basically all morning. there is a "Words in the Word" study, in which we are currently exploring romans 12 &13, a practical outreach and servanthood class, in which we spend time working or talking or praying for people in the church with needs, or where we work, evangelize and get aquainted with our community, and the lowly, lonely and needy. I am excited and scared about this class. It will have to be God who gives us the divine appointments: scarry cause i know im not in control, exciting cause God does a much better Job at working things out than I ever could. And im leading worship, and teaching some other classes. Terisa would be so proud of me how I have been playing the piano for others to sing out and have not been stopping the cord progression every time i mess up, but just keeping going.
Been thinking about "what does it mean to live for God's eternity?"
Been thinking about servanthood, truth in the word of God, and wide is the road to destruction, narrow the way to life.
Been thinking...how much of people who do the "Christianity thing" are not truly changed by the dividing, powerful, always active word of God.
Funny how The grace of God is this ammazing power that enables us to live the way God designed us to live.
God has Given Josh and I a couple to be friends with who share our hearts...What an amazing thing! And we each have a single friend who also share our hearts. It is increduble and so exciting!
Have you ever noticed how much of the new testiment is about being patient and loving your brothers, and loving the lowely, the poor, the obscure. It is a beautiful idealism, but can be acctually quite painful and convicting in reality. Have you ever tied together matthew 25's "sheep and goats" story with the place in John that says you dont love God who you cant see, if you don't even love your brother who you can see. Have you ever then gone to romans 15 where it says to accept others to bring praise to God, and thought about how if you say God accepts them, but you yourself don't...HOW is anyone going to believe you? Just some thoughts i have been thinking.
This is a picture I made for Pietze's wedding shower invitations....didn't end up using it, but i think its "lovely."
Kendra, my very first sister...I love you! (Note: we are pretty hot too! Good thing we have amazing husbands fight off evil people jeoulous of our good looks) haha!
Lindsey, I have been quoting you alot lately. "if you have to hold it together, when you let Go it will fall apart, but if God is holding it together it will last."
I feel ill iquiped for the work I do. Not because i don't have the trainning, but because without the Lord everything I do is vain. I am now teaching at the LFI programe 3 days a week. I have one class on mondays. It is similar to "prophetic worship class" that Terisa teaches. I call it "Singing the Psalms." Last week we looked at the Lords prayer, this week we will be singing psalm 63. This class has three purposes. For the 7 students (ok, and me too) to #1 grow deeper in their love and expression for the Lord, to #2 understand worship and prayer more, for them to not just be foggy idealistic things we do, but to be real and understandable, and to #3 give the students a better understanding of scripture.
Wednesday and Friday I teach basically all morning. there is a "Words in the Word" study, in which we are currently exploring romans 12 &13, a practical outreach and servanthood class, in which we spend time working or talking or praying for people in the church with needs, or where we work, evangelize and get aquainted with our community, and the lowly, lonely and needy. I am excited and scared about this class. It will have to be God who gives us the divine appointments: scarry cause i know im not in control, exciting cause God does a much better Job at working things out than I ever could. And im leading worship, and teaching some other classes. Terisa would be so proud of me how I have been playing the piano for others to sing out and have not been stopping the cord progression every time i mess up, but just keeping going.
Been thinking about "what does it mean to live for God's eternity?"
Been thinking about servanthood, truth in the word of God, and wide is the road to destruction, narrow the way to life.
Been thinking...how much of people who do the "Christianity thing" are not truly changed by the dividing, powerful, always active word of God.
Funny how The grace of God is this ammazing power that enables us to live the way God designed us to live.
God has Given Josh and I a couple to be friends with who share our hearts...What an amazing thing! And we each have a single friend who also share our hearts. It is increduble and so exciting!
Have you ever noticed how much of the new testiment is about being patient and loving your brothers, and loving the lowely, the poor, the obscure. It is a beautiful idealism, but can be acctually quite painful and convicting in reality. Have you ever tied together matthew 25's "sheep and goats" story with the place in John that says you dont love God who you cant see, if you don't even love your brother who you can see. Have you ever then gone to romans 15 where it says to accept others to bring praise to God, and thought about how if you say God accepts them, but you yourself don't...HOW is anyone going to believe you? Just some thoughts i have been thinking.
This is a picture I made for Pietze's wedding shower invitations....didn't end up using it, but i think its "lovely."
Kendra, my very first sister...I love you! (Note: we are pretty hot too! Good thing we have amazing husbands fight off evil people jeoulous of our good looks) haha!
Lindsey, I have been quoting you alot lately. "if you have to hold it together, when you let Go it will fall apart, but if God is holding it together it will last."
Sunday, August 12, 2007
to the church in Kenosha...
Dear Family at Living Light,
Hello from Colorado. We have been here for about 5 months now, and we wanted to update you on how everything is going. And we want you to have it in writing, (just so you know for sure) that we miss you.
We have enjoyed getting to know some of the families and individuals in the church family here. There are some very lovely people here. It is especially fun for us watching the young adults grow. There are many brand new and almost brand new believers in the church. This “New Group” has so much energy and enthusiasm, and at the same time has so many hang-ups. It is fun being able to pour into these lives and to watch them grow.
The spiritual strongholds in this town seem so obvious. Some of the most common areas of struggle that it seems all of Ft Morgan deal with are apathy, loneliness, bitterness. Its the west out here, people think they have to be independent and self-reliant. Knowing these spiritual areas of battle and weakness that are so prevalent helps us not only to see what is going on around us, but also keeps us aware of the attacks that are bound to come against us. It is like training for a war, it truly is a mission field, and we are truly in training. Thanks to God for those he has put here to walk and to fight the good fight with us. We have been blessed to have people of sincere heart put here with us to war with us. Praise be to God.
Joshua has been playing on the worship team, I have been dancing in the back. These are both things that we believe God is going to use to bring break through in the church. There are many who are sincere in their love for the Lord, and now they need to learn to express themselves to him. It is our belief that as we serve him, others will be inspired to serve him as well. We have both had so many people come up to us at different times and tell us that we are such an encouragement in worship, that we are such a blessing. (And there is a little girl or two who watch me dance and copy what I do. “Blessed are the pure in heart.” “The little child shall lead them.”)
Even before Josh and I were dating, I have often thought that the drought going on in Ft. Morgan was very symbolic of its spiritual health: dry, worn out, and not able to produce much fruit. So I have prayed for rain in the natural, and for the Spirit of God to rain down. I felt that the rain would come before the Spirit, because God often speaks first though what we can see, outwardly showing whats going on inside. With this said, in the spring we had a time of prayer and Joshua and one of the pastor/elders both began praying for rain and for a move of God. It then rained almost every afternoon for 2 weeks. Josh has once again been praying for rain, and last night it rained like crazy. It was beautiful, and there were rivers rushing in every street. Together we praised the Lord for the rain. We are excited about the rain, but also, I am curious to see what God has in the works for Ft. Morgan, not just in the natural, but in the spiritual. My prayer is that God's life and his Spirit will bring healing, change, and fruit that will last. May the Spirit Rain Down.
I have been studying proverbs for the last few weeks. This is because I will be teaching a class on proverbs with the young adults this fall. I chose this because I feel that God given wisdom is so scarce in my generation. Studying this has been a huge blessing for me, because as I have meditated on different verses I have came to quite a conclusion, much different than the many times i have read it before. For the first time I am beginning to Proverbs as an inside-out book, rather than an outside-in book. For instance, if you have the fruit of the spirit called gentleness inside of you, you will give a gentle answer that will turn away wrath. It doesn't work the other way around. If you give a gentle answer to turn away wrath it will not eventually make you into a gentle person. Wisdom is works its way from deep inside you till it pours out on everyone around you. The fear of the Lord is where this all starts. Anyhow, this is just a tid-bit about me specifically. I have really enjoyed what I have been learning from and seeing in Proverbs.
We miss you, love you, think and pray for you a lot.
Joshua & MaryElizabeth
Hello from Colorado. We have been here for about 5 months now, and we wanted to update you on how everything is going. And we want you to have it in writing, (just so you know for sure) that we miss you.
We have enjoyed getting to know some of the families and individuals in the church family here. There are some very lovely people here. It is especially fun for us watching the young adults grow. There are many brand new and almost brand new believers in the church. This “New Group” has so much energy and enthusiasm, and at the same time has so many hang-ups. It is fun being able to pour into these lives and to watch them grow.
The spiritual strongholds in this town seem so obvious. Some of the most common areas of struggle that it seems all of Ft Morgan deal with are apathy, loneliness, bitterness. Its the west out here, people think they have to be independent and self-reliant. Knowing these spiritual areas of battle and weakness that are so prevalent helps us not only to see what is going on around us, but also keeps us aware of the attacks that are bound to come against us. It is like training for a war, it truly is a mission field, and we are truly in training. Thanks to God for those he has put here to walk and to fight the good fight with us. We have been blessed to have people of sincere heart put here with us to war with us. Praise be to God.
Joshua has been playing on the worship team, I have been dancing in the back. These are both things that we believe God is going to use to bring break through in the church. There are many who are sincere in their love for the Lord, and now they need to learn to express themselves to him. It is our belief that as we serve him, others will be inspired to serve him as well. We have both had so many people come up to us at different times and tell us that we are such an encouragement in worship, that we are such a blessing. (And there is a little girl or two who watch me dance and copy what I do. “Blessed are the pure in heart.” “The little child shall lead them.”)
Even before Josh and I were dating, I have often thought that the drought going on in Ft. Morgan was very symbolic of its spiritual health: dry, worn out, and not able to produce much fruit. So I have prayed for rain in the natural, and for the Spirit of God to rain down. I felt that the rain would come before the Spirit, because God often speaks first though what we can see, outwardly showing whats going on inside. With this said, in the spring we had a time of prayer and Joshua and one of the pastor/elders both began praying for rain and for a move of God. It then rained almost every afternoon for 2 weeks. Josh has once again been praying for rain, and last night it rained like crazy. It was beautiful, and there were rivers rushing in every street. Together we praised the Lord for the rain. We are excited about the rain, but also, I am curious to see what God has in the works for Ft. Morgan, not just in the natural, but in the spiritual. My prayer is that God's life and his Spirit will bring healing, change, and fruit that will last. May the Spirit Rain Down.
I have been studying proverbs for the last few weeks. This is because I will be teaching a class on proverbs with the young adults this fall. I chose this because I feel that God given wisdom is so scarce in my generation. Studying this has been a huge blessing for me, because as I have meditated on different verses I have came to quite a conclusion, much different than the many times i have read it before. For the first time I am beginning to Proverbs as an inside-out book, rather than an outside-in book. For instance, if you have the fruit of the spirit called gentleness inside of you, you will give a gentle answer that will turn away wrath. It doesn't work the other way around. If you give a gentle answer to turn away wrath it will not eventually make you into a gentle person. Wisdom is works its way from deep inside you till it pours out on everyone around you. The fear of the Lord is where this all starts. Anyhow, this is just a tid-bit about me specifically. I have really enjoyed what I have been learning from and seeing in Proverbs.
We miss you, love you, think and pray for you a lot.
Joshua & MaryElizabeth
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Looking for a new land
Everyone wants to go to a new land. Everyone.
There has to be more than the hoedrum of life.
Love becomes stale, hearts become hard,
The choice: to have a heart like a child, or weeds of life worries,& of heart aches.
and a friends tell friends they are repenting from backsliding,
because some how busieness cammofolged a loss of first love
and the crazy actions that come with first love kind of logic.
and you and i are left with our hearts in our hands crying out
for softness to replace bitterness,
for faith logic to replace wordly wisdom,
& for love to replace habit & systemmatic expectations.
Then Out of the blue, proverbs becomes, not a book of external expectations,but of inner realities that express themselves outwardly.
The Book of Daniel, though filled with confussing escatology, Turns up to have hidden jems, that are beautiful and insighful, enough to make you stop, because you have to read it again,
and this time, maybe you will read them out loud.
And in the midst of it all an idea comes, to take someone else to a new land.
and so with my heart in my hands, and more excitement than i have had in a while, i go on an excurssion, to turn into beauty that which has become mundain.
Candle holders-sister in law has those, Candles & Mirrors & Music-me, silk from Cambodia-Nextdoor neighbor, New dress for less than $15-walmart. Turning my ugly basment into a beautiful candlelit, India-style dinning & sleeping room for the week...Fantastic! So in a way, I took my husband on vactaion this week...For less than dinner at a restaurant costs.
(And the spiders didn't really bother us too much either...though i did have to kill one.)
There has to be more than the hoedrum of life.
Love becomes stale, hearts become hard,
The choice: to have a heart like a child, or weeds of life worries,& of heart aches.
and a friends tell friends they are repenting from backsliding,
because some how busieness cammofolged a loss of first love
and the crazy actions that come with first love kind of logic.
and you and i are left with our hearts in our hands crying out
for softness to replace bitterness,
for faith logic to replace wordly wisdom,
& for love to replace habit & systemmatic expectations.
Then Out of the blue, proverbs becomes, not a book of external expectations,but of inner realities that express themselves outwardly.
The Book of Daniel, though filled with confussing escatology, Turns up to have hidden jems, that are beautiful and insighful, enough to make you stop, because you have to read it again,
and this time, maybe you will read them out loud.
And in the midst of it all an idea comes, to take someone else to a new land.
and so with my heart in my hands, and more excitement than i have had in a while, i go on an excurssion, to turn into beauty that which has become mundain.
Candle holders-sister in law has those, Candles & Mirrors & Music-me, silk from Cambodia-Nextdoor neighbor, New dress for less than $15-walmart. Turning my ugly basment into a beautiful candlelit, India-style dinning & sleeping room for the week...Fantastic! So in a way, I took my husband on vactaion this week...For less than dinner at a restaurant costs.
(And the spiders didn't really bother us too much either...though i did have to kill one.)
Monday, July 9, 2007
Saturday, June 30, 2007
June in conclusion
We finnally have got a contract on the house. Horrah! Also Joshua has finnally been accepted for a new job, working for the city. The other job he has had was definnately a blessing, but the schedual was not exactly fitting us. The city job has a more do-able schedual, is at least a dollar an hour more, and has great bennifits, access/ discounts for certain city things (such as a gym, swimming pool, golf course). So we are excited for that.
As far as I go everything is Good. I am still working at the coffee shop. I have been very worn out between J & P's wedding, getting sick, and picking up a few extra hours. this weekend my friend Katrina, who was supposted to be in our wedding, is in town. It is so good to see her. It is lovely to have friends who you can not see for 3 years, and still be so close when reunited. It gives me hope.
Over Jonny's wedding we got to see not only Joe and Micah, but also the whole nale family. did you know that the nales have moved, and now live about an hour 1/2 away from us. Yippi, I want to go see them. Anyhow, it was great to see all of them. on sunday Joe & micah came to the meeting. That was fun. Then we went to dinner, just the josh & i, and those 2. that night my parents, us and those 2 went to see fantastic four, get ice cream, and walk the "rainbow brige." Lovely.
June has had its fair share of difficulties. The easiest to identify, learning patience...as we waited on finding out about the city job and the house. Watching servants of God go through difficulties,waiting to see if they will chose the MostHigh-way, or to do it "my way." It is hard, because although we affect others, we can not make their choices for them. So we hang in the balance waiting to see what a test of time will reveal about the character of our fellow servants, and of ourselves. I feel encouraged though, because I see that although there are struggles, what my dear fellow servants want the most is to follow Christ.
Joshua and I remain so thankful esspecially for what Don & Carol and Tim & Carol have instilled into us. Marriage teaching like that is rare. Maybe in a few years we will start doing marriage counsiling... THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU HAVE GIVEN US! the best wedding present we could ever ask for!
Finnally, I am re-vamping the whole "Master's commission" school that the Church has had. That has been taking up alot of my thought and my time. I feel like God has given me understanding for some things that needed to be re-worked. The school is all about equiping people to live wholeheartedly for God. I will let ya know how it goes.
God is faithful to speak, when we listen and when we seek him. He is faithful more than we even know. He is good beyond our imagenations. Oh that we would seek him more!
~m
As far as I go everything is Good. I am still working at the coffee shop. I have been very worn out between J & P's wedding, getting sick, and picking up a few extra hours. this weekend my friend Katrina, who was supposted to be in our wedding, is in town. It is so good to see her. It is lovely to have friends who you can not see for 3 years, and still be so close when reunited. It gives me hope.
Over Jonny's wedding we got to see not only Joe and Micah, but also the whole nale family. did you know that the nales have moved, and now live about an hour 1/2 away from us. Yippi, I want to go see them. Anyhow, it was great to see all of them. on sunday Joe & micah came to the meeting. That was fun. Then we went to dinner, just the josh & i, and those 2. that night my parents, us and those 2 went to see fantastic four, get ice cream, and walk the "rainbow brige." Lovely.
June has had its fair share of difficulties. The easiest to identify, learning patience...as we waited on finding out about the city job and the house. Watching servants of God go through difficulties,waiting to see if they will chose the MostHigh-way, or to do it "my way." It is hard, because although we affect others, we can not make their choices for them. So we hang in the balance waiting to see what a test of time will reveal about the character of our fellow servants, and of ourselves. I feel encouraged though, because I see that although there are struggles, what my dear fellow servants want the most is to follow Christ.
Joshua and I remain so thankful esspecially for what Don & Carol and Tim & Carol have instilled into us. Marriage teaching like that is rare. Maybe in a few years we will start doing marriage counsiling... THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU HAVE GIVEN US! the best wedding present we could ever ask for!
Finnally, I am re-vamping the whole "Master's commission" school that the Church has had. That has been taking up alot of my thought and my time. I feel like God has given me understanding for some things that needed to be re-worked. The school is all about equiping people to live wholeheartedly for God. I will let ya know how it goes.
God is faithful to speak, when we listen and when we seek him. He is faithful more than we even know. He is good beyond our imagenations. Oh that we would seek him more!
~m
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Nose
This is me with my new nosering and new hair color. Because you are all dying to see them i am sure.
Lots is going on, almost to much to say, For sure too much to say right now.
We should know about the house soon though.
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