Changing to Meet the Truth

All this talk about Jesus' authority, but what does it mean to me? My life? My responses to situations affecting me?

A question we ask ourselves at AVEFC is: if what we learn is truth, then what do we do about it? In this subject of authority, the easy answer is to just say accept it and live your life based on it. 

Ha! I don't know about you, but I am a rebellious soul. If my dad were still around you could ask him. He could tell you some stories. In general, when told to go right I go left (part of that is dyslexia LOL). Or more importantly, if told to do or not do something, there I would be doing the opposite. A life time of that nature running rampant is hard to reel in and change.

I am independent and had raised my boys, on my own, for 8 of their in-home years. I am used to looking at things with my own logic and experience. So, my first problem is simply remembering that I am not in charge. I go off on tangents without even giving a thought to God or that I should even pray about it. Then I start seeing unintended repercussions. That's bad and at that point is when i start thinking, "Hey God, come on. A little help here." My own fault that I didn't ask in the first place!

I have written earlier on a blog that I am working on contentment and gratitude. How can I do that if I don't let God lead me? That is where I am today--learning to follow Him. That does not mean I am going off into the wild jungles (I don't think), it simply means to look to Him first. Ask what He would have me do, how to respond or just wait.

I have started my blogs for some creative freedom and to share myself with whomever reads them. I prayed about them and felt an urge to make them happen.

I am having that same urge in finding a way to make some income. There are a few avenues open to me, but I want to honor Jesus not my abilities or follow some man-made plan. So I wait.
There are a few things I am working on ATM. Things like writing a fictional book, the church website, blogs, and doing other things online. I just wrote a book for my granddaughter, and feel led to do something in the realm of relationships--marriage, family, people--putting God into it but not sure how to go forward there and a number of other things.

My ability to focus is also reflected here

Writing a fictional book takes time and I have to keep God and my family responsibilities before it. If anyone has written or been passionate about something that is not directed towards your family, you know how hard it is to keep it all balanced. I tend to do many things at once, but only focus on one or two things with full force.

Take babies for example. The baby becomes the mom's focus and the husband is often left on the periphery somewhat ignored, especially his need for serious affection from his wife. Guilty here. I didn't know that I should have had a better balance, nor did I know how if I had been aware. That is something God has shown me. That is one reason to keep God first, He helps with making my marriage good and keeping a major focus on my Frontier Hubby! That change in me, made a change in him, too. We are so much better together now than ever. When either of us takes our eyes off God, we end up fighting because it then becomes all about us. If you do not know God, that may sound really off-base, but it works! I would rather be happy in my marriage than give into my need to be the number 1, most important person in my life. Been there, done that and flopped.

So, if Jesus' authority is real what should we do about it? I try to bring myself under His authority. He is not a selfish, power hungry person. He is God, the benevolent dictator, and He is concerned about us. There is talk about if we all love each other, there would be no war. Well, if people were not involved that might work, but whoever is in power will become corrupt. It is just human nature. So how about we all look to Jesus and love Him. The rest falls into place as long as we get out of the way!

So, what are you going to do about the truth of His authority?

May you find all things new in Him,
Frontier Woman @ FrontierChristianLiving

The Contented Woman Now

 

The Contented Woman is a blog by a friend on her Christian walk, thoughts and her interests. She had (and still has) a large following on it. Her frontier hubby was diagnosed with terminal illness and passed, so she took a leave from the blogging world and has recently picked it up again. Take a look to see if you would also like to follow her messages.

Bless you my friend.

May you find all things new in Him,
Frontier Woman @ FrontierChristianLiving

Follow Me

Sunday's service at AVEFC was actually a video of a service by Doug Weiber, from His Place Church in Post Falls, as the first in a series about following Jesus. The series started last summer and is continuing still. To see the video we used today, you can go here and scroll down to the video (or audio if you prefer) Follow Me 1 dated 6/29/14.

Today was from Mark 1:14-17 where Jesus calls for Simon and his brother Andrew to "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
The message, the start of a series, was that to follow Jesus, we need to be in His will, walking with Him, in His footsteps. How do we know if we are in sync with Him? There is a test!
1 John 2:3-6. We know we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says "I know Him." but does not what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. but if anyone obeys His word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him. Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.
Doug described how we must look at our relationship with Jesus using the DTR process. What is DTR? It is a term used when a couple takes time to Define The Relationship, often thought of as when one person asks the other where they see the relationship going.
So, where do you see your relationship going with Jesus? Are you just dating casually or maybe going steady? Are you seeing others or have a friendship with benefits? If you have learned the Bible is the true word of God, what does that mean to you? Are you ready to make a full-time, all out, commitment to the God of the Universe?

What are some of the negatives? Well, if you are used to thinking in terms of "me" then you may be worried that all the worldly things you have gathered and loved, might have to go away. Are you afraid where God might take you? What He asks of you might be embarrassing? Is there a sacrifice He can ask of you that is greater than what He did for you on the cross? No!
After the video, Pastor Shane lead us in a discussion about what the message meant to each of us and what stood out. We left with the instruction to ponder where we were in our relationship with Christ. Are we ready to commit or have we already taken that step? Can we go further? There is no test here at church. The test comes on Judgment Day when we are either accepted into His kingdom or told to depart, He never knew us. Where do you want to stand on that day?

May you find all things new in Him,
Frontier Woman @ FrontierChristianLiving

Saulectomy

Sunday's sermon was by a guest speaker, Jason Jerman, a pastor from His Place Church in Post Falls, Idaho. We have started a new series in Mark, one verse at a time, but our pastor was away for the weekend. (Yes, we let him do that once in while.) Jason had us turn to John 6:16-21 specifically and to John 6:1-24 to see the passages before, during and after Jesus walked on the waters. Context is everything.
Before I say what I found important to me during the service, I want to just make a point about the 4 gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I used to read them as stories, more like Grimm's or an edited Reader's Digest version of the events. I now read them as courthouse worthy testimonies of eye witness accounts. It makes a big difference in perception. I read "Cold-Case Christianity" by J. Warmer Wallace a retired homicide cold-case detective, whose approach to the Bible was from a skeptics point of view allowing the "evidence" to lead where it might. As he did so, he went from a disbeliever in anything supernatural to believer of Jesus as the Son of God. He did this by reading the 4 gospels and applying the same techniques he used on the job, which he teaches in his book. I pray this revelation will become part of the interpretation all believers use in evaluating the gospels. Now back to the scripture and teaching from Sunday.
As we read about the crowds gathering around Jesus before He and the disciples could rest, Jesus decides to feed the crowd of about 5,000 men (not counting women and children). He tested the disciples to see if they would look to Him to provide, but they did not understand fully who He was and answered as most of us would, "We don't have enough money to buy the bread and the one boy who has food does not have enough."
He then made the tired disciples do the work to make the men sit and deliver the miraculous food as supplied by Jesus to the crowd. If they had huge baskets of fish and bread, it still would have taken hours to feed them all. Then He sent them back to pick up crumbs. That must have been exhausting.
He sent the disciples out to sea saying that He would catch up to them. What did the disciples think that meant? I would imagine they thought Jesus would catch another boat out to them as they were actually looking for Him when they were at sea. After it got dark, a strong wind arose and they did not make any more progress towards shore.
Have you ever been so exhausted you see things? I have and know to pull over for a nap when I am driving. The disciples were exhausted and thought they saw a ghost. With the boat bouncing up and down on the waves and Jesus' head bobbing between waves, it is easy to understand the dilemma of the disciples. Now, it was nearly Passover, which means it was nearly a full moon. No mention of clouds, leads one to believe that the disciples could at least see well enough to glimpse someone walking toward them with his robe and hair flapping in the wind--a very ghostly presence. As soon as Jesus spoke to them and they received Him into their boat, they were immediately upon the shore they were heading towards.
There were 3 lessons for me here. The lessons reinforced that which I already know, but bringing it to the forefront of my thoughts helps me apply it to my life. Every little bit helps there!
1. Jesus is in control.
2. He is our source.
3. He will come to us where we are.
So, what about the Saulectomy? Well the crowds, after being fed, wanted to forcefully make Jesus their King, a lot like when they desired a King in 1Samuel. Jesus left before they could do that. If you have read 1 Samuel, King Saul was not a godly man and made many mistakes. He was selfish, angry, tried to murder David, went against what God had told him to do, and was fearful. Frontier Hubby made a comment during our study of 1 Samuel over several months in the sermons, that he felt he needed a Saulectomy, meaning that he felt too much like Saul and needed to get closer to God. It became one of the terms used often in our church.

[I am linking only to things I have read or have experienced. By using supplied links I can help cover overhead for my web-presence. If you are uncomfortable with that, go directly to the provider, such as amazon.com.]
Here is a link to "Cold-Case Christianity" by J. Warmer Wallace

May you find all things new in Him,
Frontier Woman @ FrontierChristianLiving