Here is day 2 from the Women’s Retreat. On the topic of being United as One Body in Jesus Christ.
May God be glorified!
Enjoy and share as you are led.
Category: Bible
Unique and United Women’s Retreat Audio – Day 1 ‘UNIQUE’
Last month, I had the awesome privilege of sharing on two topics very near and dear to my heart. We are each unique creations of God and we are one body, united in Christ.
Here is the audio from the first talk – “UNIQUE.” It is right around 30 minutes.
Enjoy and share as you are led.
Four Four 2015. Exalt Jesus with Me.
Dear Jesus,
Thank you! Thank You! Thank YOU! You are my hope, my joy, my peace, my love. My first love.
Indeed, You loved me while I was yet a sinner, still a sinner. You created me, called me, chose me. You set me apart. Not because of my works, NO! In spite of my works!
You chose me because of Your own purpose and grace. Thank you! Thank you! You are worthy. I cast my crowns at Your feet – You alone are worthy. To You be all the glory and honor and praise.
You plucked me out of the devil’s snare. You set my feet on the rock. You covered me under Your wings. You covered me with Your blood. You redeemed me. You paid the price for my sins.
By Your death, I’ve been set free.
My due wages – what I had indeed EARNED, what I DESERVED – was death. Death is what I deserved, and yet, in Your great love, in Your great love for me, a sinner, unclean, a filthy blasphemer, a rebel, a persecutor of Christians, an opponent of the gospel, You reached down to me and drew me out of that miry clay.
You saw my need and You didn’t turn away – NO – You saw my need and You drew near.
You humbled Yourself, taking on the form of a servant, taking on my shame, my pain, my sin. Jesus, You paid it all. You paid it all.
Dayenu. It would have been enough for us. More than enough.
Not only did You rescue me from my due penalty of death, but You have given me new LIFE. You have given me joy and purpose and freedom and peace.
Dayenu. It would have been enough for us. More than enough.
Not only in the life to come, but, Jesus, You gave it to me right now. You have given me eternal life, a blessing not only for the future, but for my daily life right now.
Dayenu. It would have been enough for us. More than enough.
You, Jesus, are more than enough.
Lord, You went farther, higher, deeper, wider than I can even understand. Jesus, please, help me, together with all the saints, to grasp how deep and wide and long and high is Your love, the LOVE of Christ! Indeed, Jesus, it passes my comprehension.
Thank YOU! Thank you! Thank You!
Thank you for Your love for me, for the lost sinners, rebels, enemies, wretches like me, here on this earth. Fill me, Lord, and fill all my brothers and sisters, with all humility and gentleness and patience and love. These fruits are ours by Your Holy Spirit. Praise You, Lord.
May I love others because You first loved me. Me, a sinner, a wretch, unclean. I indeed was blind and lost and dead. But You have made me see. You have found me and given me life. All Praise the Power of Jesus’ Name.
Father, may Jesus be EXALTED, High and LIFTED UP today in Memphis, Tennessee. May Your Spirit rain down on us and fill AutoZone park, that any who are blind would SEE Your POWER, Your MAJESTY. I pray for all who are lost and dead – may they be found and reborn today, Lord. May they know us by our LOVE for one another, and our love for You. We lift Your Name on High.
In the matchless, mighty Name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
Psalm 9:10
“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord , have not forsaken those who seek you.”
Psalm 9:10 ESV
You alone will I seek. I put my trust in You alone, Lord. You have not, nor will not, forsake those who seek You.
Encourage us when we are weary, Father. Give us the power and strength to press on and not to lose heart.
You are worthy. You alone are worthy. To You alone be the glory and praise. In the mighty, matchless name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
A Child of Promise
Dear friends,
I am so excited to share my good news with you. After many years in the works, the Bible study I’ve written especially for families while they are continuing their pregnancy after finding out their unborn baby has something wrong is finally available.
It is titled: A Child of Promise: A Bible Study for Parents Facing a Poor or Fatal Prognosis for their Unborn Child. You can find it on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/150049285X
I would sincerely appreciate any help you can give in spreading the word – on Facebook or via email or your own blogs or so forth.
Also, the “A Child of Promise” website has been updated and is up-and-running. Yay for techy-hubbies! It is at: www.achildofpromise.org
Thank you for your prayers and service to the Lord, and the body, in this way.
To God be the glory,
Kim
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-6 ESV)
As smart as the devil?
“The Bible was not given to us so that we could be as smart as the devil; it was given to us so that we could become as holy as God.” – Studying, Interpreting and Applying the Bible, pg 165
“Even the demons believe and shudder” James 2:19
One Week of One on One
I wonder what it would be like to be the youngest of four.
Yes, I had a sister, but only one. I do remember spending summer vacations sometimes by myself with my grandparents. It was both fun and lonely.
This week it was just me and Daniel. Me and Bubba. Me and my little guy.
While Daddy, and the big brother and sisters were in Reynosa, Mexico for a mission trip to Rio Bravo Children’s Home, Daniel and I stayed home to play house together.
So, you may wonder, what did we do?
Well, we played lots of lots of Risk. I think 7 games so far. I’m up 4 games to 3.
We taught ourselves to play chess with an Usborne book.
We brought Daniel’s mattress into Mom and Dad’s room so he could sleep on the floor in my room.
We began reading “How God Used a Thunderstorm” together and listened to a bunch of exciting American History stories from Adventures in Odyssey. Daniel was particularly taken with the courageous stories of Sergeant York during World War I.
We went to Aldi together to buy all the necessary vittles for a week without eating out, including Moose Tracks ice cream and ice cream cones.
We ate simple things like egg sandwiches and chocolate chip zucchini muffins and waffles with fresh sliced strawberries and biscuits with sausage patties. Three meals a day.
We spent some time apart. Mommy took a few hours a day to work on finishing the formatting for the Bible study guide she’s working on while Daniel napped or read books by himself or watched something on Right Now Media.
We checked out a few DVDs at the library to watch snuggled on the couch.
We went bowling at the local bowling alley.
We played MLB 2K11 on XBox – Daniel won 3 for 3. No contest. I just can’t seem to figure it out.
We got our swimming suits on and took a bubble bath together in Mommy’s giant jacuzzi.
We took care of each other while we took turns battling fevers, and sore throats and sinus gunk.
We did the required household chores (even the ones that weren’t “ours”), like sweeping and cooking and laundry and taking care of the dogs.
Most importantly, we made many, many memories that I trust will last a lifetime.
TWIG
Founded on the Rock
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Luke 6:46-49
You may have been wondering where I’ve been the last few months. I’ve been wondering that too, but I pray that I have been busy building a solid foundation for my life and my household. This month has been particularly full. Our oldest daughter, Emily, graduated high school on May 10th, immediately followed by a five night cruise to Mexico.
This morning during my time in the Word, I was reading Luke 6-8 and was particularly struck by this passage. It is a parallel to the passage in Matthew 7 which I wrote about on October 18 of last year. What struck me this morning were these words: DUG DEEP.
Luke 6:48 says that the man dug DEEP when he was building his house. This was hard work. This took digging. This required effort.
That really resonated with me. How often am I taking the easy road?
All too often I find myself building my life on the ground that I can see before me, rather than taking the time and effort required to dig deep to build it on the solid rock of the Word. All too often, I am calling out “Lord, Lord” and yet, not doing what my Lord has told me to do.
Please join me in digging deep, deep into the well of living waters, deep into the heart of our Lord, as we found our lives and our households on the solid rock.
TWIG
Founded on the rock
My “dream day”
I’m currently leading a Sunday School class discussion on a book titled Let. It. Go.: How to Stop Running the Show and Start Walking in Faith, by Karen Ehman.
In the book on pages 129-130, Karen encourages us to imagine our ideal day, to script a blank 24-hour time period to fill in any way we choose. This seemed like such a fun group activity that would really reveal a lot about each woman’s personalities and interests.
So here’s mine.
My ideal 24-hours starts with going bed early say about 9 o’clock listening to a podcast or classical Christian instrumental music on Pandora. The following morning I’d wake up early to watch a beautiful sunrise while reading my Bible, including a bunch of rabbit trails of Greek word studies. After a protracted time of prayer, I would spend some time blogging about the lessons the Lord is teaching me.
The rest of my day would be spent leisurely reading Christian novels or encouraging non-fiction books while eating shrimp tempera sushi rolls and a Toblerone bar, and drinking my second cup of incredibly sweet and creamy fresh brewed coffee, snuggled up in my comfy bed under my down comforter.
Late in the afternoon, I’d take a peaceful drive by myself through the country while listening to a Familylife podcast or encouraging homeschool speaker sermon and watching the wildlife on the side of the road. For dinner, I would go to a quiet, peaceful, upscale Japanese restaurant for more sushi. Then its off to a library or bookstore to peruse the latest Christian books, and if there’s time a run into Goodwill to shop for some inexpensive clothes for myself. To finish out my day, a stop at Sheridans Frozen Custard for a concrete, never without a Christian book or magazine.
Do you notice any patterns here?
Do you notice anything missing?
Here are the patterns I see: I like to be with God and with books and with food.
Here’s what’s missing: people. There are no other people in this ideal day.
Here’s the problem: in my real life, my real days are filled with real people, younger people and older people, but people who need me and love me. People who I love deeply, but ultimately in my terrific selfishness I just want to be alone.
Pray for me! By no coincidence yesterday I was listening to a Family Life podcast about what a killer selfishness is in a marriage. How true.
For as much as I fear some people read this and think how “godly” I am to want to spend my day in prayer and the scriptures and so on, let me just say that really that’s just God working in me. This is God IN me. Truly God has used my natural bent toward cerebral pursuits and turned that to serve Him.
But, this can still be my FLESH. In my selfish, sinful FLESH, I can even turn seeking God into a selfish pursuit – escaping my God-ordained duties and responsibilities to retreat into myself in the name of Jesus.
So how about you guys???
I would love to hear what your “dream day” would hold! I have a feeling we have at least one people-person out there. Don’t be shy.
Each of us is God’s unique workmanship that we would be in beautiful harmony in Him.
God Is Real, An Eyewitness Testimony of a Former Atheist
Here is the audio file from a talk I gave in St Louis in October at the Shine Ministries conference.
I pray that your faith would be strengthened as you hear God show Himself mighty and awesome in one simple woman’s life.
“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” – 1 Timothy 1:12-17 ESV
TWIG
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