The House You're Building

Prepare Your Heart: 2 Samuel 22:22-29 and Matthew 5:27-30.   Read these passages and consider the purity of your heart in regards to your faithfulness to your current or future spouse. So in thinking about teaching on this section I thought it might be interesting to get some statistics.   When I googled this, it was overwhelming!   So many different statistics and sources.      It is the internet so this may not be valid so I decided not to share it, as I didn’t find a site I felt was reputable.   I also searched on Focus on the Family.   There is a good article here http://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/divorce_and_infidelity/affairs_and_adultery.aspx that gives you an overview of the topic.   Of special interest to me was the part on how to avoid being in an affair.   No matter what your personal story is in regards to this topic, all of us can take the time to consider our lifestyle and the things we are doing as Chris...

And Mary said, Behold the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.    And the angel departed from her.   Luke 1:38 Today I was treated like a servant and I didn’t like it.   Instead of a submission in joy, instead of seeing an opportunity, I felt unappreciated.   The thoughts began in my head, justifying why I should not make the situation easy for the recipient of my help.   I knew I needed to come to God to sort out my pride issues. Daily when I go to work, I pray for the students, families, and staff members God has for me to serve.   I pray that I will see these as opportunities and not burdens.   I have to pray that when I am treated like a servant, I will respond in humility as I am constantly tempted to make much of myself.   It is a prayer I’ve had to pray daily as I am busy and tempted to focus on my tasks, and not see the people that need me as interruptions to my work.   For the r...

Prepare Your Heart: Read Mark 7:14-23.   Pray about the motivations behind your actions.   When circumstances befall you that are frustrating, do you blame it on external sources, or see your own heart’s response and sinful nature as the culprit? Today we are going to look at some things that trip us up in our faith, issues of self-control.   I’m a very passionate person, and as a result need lot of reminders to slow me down from responding.   Often when I respond too quickly, I get caught up in sin.   My temper is quick and I’m not often patient.   This happens often while parenting.   A lack of patience is a common confession in my prayer life.   Read Proverbs and take note on what you learn. Self-Control ·          10:25 ·          21:5 ·          25:8,28 ·      ...

Prepare Your Heart: Spend some time meditating on Psalm 131.   It is a short Psalm, one that is easy to recite.   Remember biblical meditation is filling your mind with God’s truth, not emptying it.   Repeat it slowly and thoughtfully, asking God to take away pride and rest your soul in preparation for today’s study.   This year it was my first year to host Thanksgiving.   It was a very nice time.   Simple.   No TV but a big puzzle.   Sitting around chatting and eating pie.   Ending the day cleaning the kitchen and drying the dishes with my husband was the perfect way to end the day.   I got on the internet later to check for an email via facebook and saw a lot of posts about people’s plans for shopping and all the stress they were anticipating.   My pastor commented on a mutual friend’s status that it’s too bad that Black Friday has to follow a holiday like Thanksgiving.   And he’s right…it’s almost like the celebr...

            Prepare Your Heart: Read Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 31:23, 101:6, Matthew 25:21, 1 Thessalonians 5:24.   As you read the following verses, meditate on how faithful you are to God and others, and how faithful God is to you. Recently our church started going through the 40 Days of Purpose, a spiritual growth campaign put together by Saddleback Church in California.   Though this program is dated, the spiritual truths contained in it are timeless, as how one grows closer to God never changes.   During a sermon on ministry, our pastor mentioned he would rather have faithful people serving than those that were very skilled.   I have thought a lot about that statement, as the skills and ways that I serve the church are varied. I take care of a lot of the photography needs, sing on the worship team, and in the past, have tried to help with the children’s ministry when the photography needs weren’t so...

Prepare You Heart: Read Matthew 23:23-28.   What does Jesus say of those who profess one thing and inside another is found.   Pray that in today’s study God will show you if you are allowing any hypocrisy in your life.   I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my sincerity and what things I do out of habit or self-discipline and which things I practice out of a changed heart.   When I committed myself to grow as a believer, I knew that there were things I must choose to do as God was sanctifying me, making me more like Christ.   The growth of the heart is a process.   Often feelings follow obedience.   Proverbs 16:2 describes a concept that we will study in this installment: All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.   The Lord is the only one who can ever see us clearly.   A verse that has meant a lot to me the past several years is found in Romans 12:3: For through the grace given to me I say to ...

   Prepare Your Heart: Read Matthew 6:1-6.   Pray about the heart behind your service to God.   Is there any areas in your life where God wants to purify your desires to serve Him? Integrity is a quickly vanishing trait.   Not many people seem to value doing what is right, even when no one else knows.   As a parent this quality is something I want to develop in them, so it is important for me to first look at my integrity in light of God’s Word.   As I’ve studied the word and its meanings, the definition in full is not quite what I expected.   The word brings a sense of completeness, fullness, innocence, and simplicity alongside one whose heart is pure and whole before the Lord.   In many of this word’s use in the Bible, it is used to describe the heart (Gen 20:5, 1 Ki 9:4, Psa 78:72).   I would recommend reading Psalm 101 in its entirety before looking in Proverbs, as its theme is the godly man full of integrity. ...

Prepare your heart-Read Psalm 4, paying careful attention to the word righteousness and any other synonyms of the word.   Pray about where your faith is in regard to trusting in the Lord for your righteousness (4:1,5). Good and evil, also called righteousness and wickedness is not a popular concept in American culture.   Our society likes to see shades of gray and justify their actions.   They are afraid of being viewed as intolerant to judge something as “right or wrong.”   Where does your sense of morality lie?   Is it based on the ever changing, fickle, self-seeking and superficial views of others who don’t consider their eternity?   Or on word of truth that is timeless, whose source is the all-knowing, beyond time God who created it all?   Today as you study, how God views the wicked and the righteous in His sight, and take note of the blessings and consequences each role brings.   Proverbs: ·    ...