The House You're Building

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.   And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.   Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.     For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.   Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.   Therefore do not become partners with them;     for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light   (for t...

14  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  15  from whom every family [ c ]  in heaven and on earth is named, 16  that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  17  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  18  may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,  21  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.    Ephesians 3:14-21 (ESV)   One of the ...

        Orient  For God So Loved The World Jesus continues his conversation with Nicodemus and begins by explaining why the Son of Man will be lifted up.  Ties to the themes in the prologue are found in the light/dark contrast shared by John to describe the nature of man and their deeds. Much of the language in these verses communicates spiritual truth using legal terms.  This section contains one of the most well-known scriptures in the Bible (John 3:16) because of its succinct summary of the gospel but is not always understood fully when taken out of context.     Introduction Human nature has fascinated people for centuries.  At the root of the academic fields of ethics, philosophy, psychology, and sociology, thinkers and scientists try to study and explain the motivations of humanity. Previously in John, we learn that Jesus knows what is in man [1] .  In today’s meditation, we hear the teaching of Je...

Dear Blog Readers, As I’ve been working on other projects, it has been a long time since I’ve last posted—so long in fact that I wonder who, if anyone, will read these words.  If you’re like me, life has been a bit different lately.  That’s not entirely accurate; life has thrown given us a hard left.  Our everyday lives, our busy schedules, our work and our plans have been almost entirely eliminated as we are living through the COVID-19 pandemic.  Many Christian teachers I follow have come out with sermons, blog posts, and podcasts addressing the state of the human heart and the place we spiritually find ourselves in.  And I am no different—though my influence may be small I want to use my voice to unite under one Spirit with those reminding us to turn to God.  I am so profoundly grateful that I have faith in a time where many are looking for answers.  Where I have peace, to counter the fear that is all around me....

Sisters and Seekers, I logged onto the blog today after a long absence-I am now helping write for a local women's ministry and in this season of life, don't get to my blog as much as I want to.  Saw I had 18 readers from Israel this week!  Welcome and hope we can connect!  As always feel free to comment or send me a message...seeing women from all over the world access this content is such a blessing to me! So why the sudden break from my hiatus?  This teacher/mom/writer/daughter of God is home for day 3 of an unexpected winter storm.  Where I live in the Pacific Northwest, we typically get snow on our mountains and rain in the lowlands.  This winter has been a bit different.  We were getting 1-2 feet of snow over a few days time and the community services that treat our roads are just not ready to handle it.  That, along with freezing temps and meandering hills make the roads treacherous.  God has given me the gift of slowing down and th...

“I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.    John 15:11-15 MSG Today is Valentine's Day.  Being an elementary school teacher, it is common in my world that the emphasis is on love expressed through friendship and not romance.  Reading the above verse this morning reminded me about the friendship we have with God.  Here are some things I notice in regards to how this friendship with God works: He wants joy to come out of a friendship with Him.  This joy comes from growing as a person into your full po...

Johnn 14 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" 23 Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. Why us?   Why do we get to see?  John 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. It's about loving Jesus.  When we do, we keep His word and feel the love of the Father.  Inside God makes His home within, with the Spirit, with the Son.   When we don't love Jesus, we don't keep HIs words.  We don't obey or follow His voice.   It's all about this question:  do we love Jesus?   How do we come to love ...

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 My grace is all you need, my power works best in weakness.   So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.   That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ.   For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (NLT) What a week.   What a blindside.   How much do we go walking through our Christian, worship, fellowship, praying, Bible-reading lives and forget to listen to God.   To pay attention to the basic things in our curious search for “higher-truth.”   I put that in quotes because I ate humble pie this week.   With a whipped cream topping of, “you missed the whole point.” I know my gift, teaching and what I am called to do, yet I did it without love. Ironic (no) that this week I was teaching the love chapter in the Bible-1 Corinthians 13.   The one you always hear at weddings. ...