seeking what is Christ...

//A dear friend of mine who has been "mentoring" me, challenged me to read the book of Philippians, and I'm still working through it. Here's just a thought from what I read today!

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{For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. -Philippians 2:21}

||This verse really jumped out at me today! I've been sitting here pondering it for several minutes now and there's still a lot to think about there! 

Are we seeking to do the things that God wants us to do? Or are we trying to do the things that we want to do? 

And even more importantly: are we making sure that we aren't making our own things out as the things of God????

I'm primarily speaking for myself, but we need to be so So SO careful that we dont get distracted by what we want so badly that we make it out to be what God wants!!!

Pretty Is As Pretty Does

Jesus heals a leper. 

Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law.

Jesus calms the winds and the sea.

Jesus heals a man with palsy.

Jesus offers rest for the heavy laden.

Jesus has compassion on the two blind men.

Jesus raises the Ruler's daughter from the dead.

Jesus blesses the children.

   

   Jesus. Such was his ministry; Healing. Calming. Giving. Showing compassion. Teaching. Loving. All through the four gospels, over and over again, we are led through the ministry of Christ. His teachings, his work, his ever-present love for the disciples and the people of the New Testament. He preached to them the gospel, and showed them how they should live. And how we, over 2,000 years later, should live as well. 

     I see so many Christians today who seem to have their own version of Christianity. They go about their lives, working, doing their *own thing*, living life the way they want, instead of the way a true Christian is taught to live. Christ was the living example of how we, His followers should be. We should be a living, breathing example of everything He is. His love, His compassion for others, His calming, giving spirit that always reaches out to others with genuine concern for the them is what we ought to reflect. 

     Some girls, myself included even, seem to have trouble with this concept. As girls, we love to be noticed. To be looked at, and admired. We like to feel beautiful, and many times, we unknowingly focus on impressing others with that outward beauty more than reflecting the beauty of Christ from within. We need to examine ourselves sometimes, and make sure that, while we apply our makeup and choose our clothes for the day, we are not merely attempting to show others our outside beauty, but also doing our best to let the beauty of Christ and all that He is shine through us. In our actions, in our words, and in the way we treat others. I read once, that a pretty girl means nothing if she has an ugly heart. 

Real beauty comes from within. Can others see Christ in you?

   

Hopelessly in Love

   "When you are truly in love, you go to great lengths to be with the one you love. You'll drive hours to be together, even if it's only for a short while. You don't mind staying up late to talk. Walking in the rain is romantic, and not annoying. You'll willingly spend a small fortune on the one you're crazy about. When you are apart from each other, it's painful, even miserable. He or she is all you think about; you jump at any chance to be together...   We need to be like this with God."

     As I scrolled down my Facebook newsfeed one evening, this little photo-quote caught my eye, and I silently began to read. Having been in a long distance relationship for the past three years, I smiled knowingly, as the words of this statement completely identified with the way I felt about my significant other. It described us to a tee, actually. I wasn't quite prepared, however, for that last sentence...

     The simple truth of this profound statement hit me with a sobering clarity. Wow. For those of us in relationships, you understand how it is. You love your man. To death. You would do anything for him. You would gladly sacrifice your time, hobbies, money, and sleep, if it meant the happiness of your other half. When you aren't with him, when you aren't talking to him, it feels like torture. As if half of you is missing. I know. Oh, I know so very well.

But how often are we like this with God?

     In Psalm 63:1-2, David writes, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary."

     Goodness. How many times have we longed for the Lord, as David did? How many times have we been as eager to talk to Him, and stay up into the wee hours of the morning with Him, as we are with our other half? Why do we sometimes think we don't need Him? Our other half may be our best friend, our strong tower, and the love our life, but where does that leave the Lord? The Lord is not merely our friend, He is our strength. Our protector. Our encourager. Our Savior. Why do we so often neglect Him?
     

     When I start straying away from the Lord, even just a little bit, I create problems in my relationship with my dear, sweet "person", whom I shall address as, "J". One thing I find myself guilty of doing quite a bit, is putting J in the place of the Lord. Not purposely, but even so, it creates tension between he and myself, because I have set him up as someone he is not.

     As women, we are prone to lean heavily upon someone. At times, it might be our parents, our mentor, our friends. But when we are in a relationship, that someone is usually the other person. Why? Because us girls are weaker, while he is stronger. He understands you. He listens to you. He supports you. And we thrive off of that. Sometimes though, if we aren't careful, we unknowingly place him upon a pedestal that is equal to God. By doing this, we set ourselves up for disappointment. Our men aren't perfect. They fail, just as much as we do. When we put them in the place that is intended for the Lord, problems begin to arise. With ourselves, because we feel alone and hurt when our significant other fails, or disappoints us; in our relationship with the other person, because we place upon them, an unfair expectation that no one can live up to; and in our relationship with God, because He is not our first priority in life, as He should be.
 

     When we place God first, and keep Him as our number one focus, we stay in tune with life, and with the people who mean the most to us. We must first fall in love with God, before we can know how to love another. 

To keep Christ first in your life, you must first fall hopelessly in love with Him. He never disappoints, never fails. And I promise it's the best thing you could ever do.

God Doesn't Hear Me?

     Have you ever prayed, but felt that no matter how hard, or how long you pleaded, you just couldn't seem to get a hold of God? You felt as if your prayers were only going as high as the ceiling, and you couldn't understand why?

I have. 

     One morning, as I was sitting and listening to a lesson being taught by a very godly, very wise preacher, I realized he was making a painstakingly good point. He gave three reasons as to why God does not hear your prayers. They were short, sweet, and to the point. Well, short and to the point, anyways, and full of wisdom.
     The first point he made, hit the nail on the head, at least in my life. How often, when we pray, does our prayer go along the lines of, "...Dear Lord, thank you for the day, bless it, keep me safe, and my friends and family, bless all who are sick and dying, be with so-and-so, forgive me of my many sins and where I fail you..yada yada...amen."? 
     I admit, I am guilty, as charged. Nothing wrong with that prayer though, right? Wrong. The problem? It's backwards. You do not pray, and then confess, you confess, and then pray. If you take a look at Psalm 66:18, you might understand why. 

  • If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear me: 
-Psalm 66:18

That brings us to the first point.

  (1.) God cannot hear prayer because of unconfessed sin. 

     Good news though. God assures us in 1 John 1:9, that "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.". When I heard this, however, I immediately thought, "Well, what if I can't remember every. single. sin. I had committed in a day? I mean, it could range from lying, to a bad attitude, to maybe contemplating swiping that nickel I found on the counter. I can't remember EVERYTHING." That's when the pastor seemed to have read my mind. You see, God says that if we confess our sins; the sins we remember, the ones that we know we're guilty of, then He is faithful and just to forgive us of them, and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. All. Not just the things we remember. But the things we can't, as well. That's pretty amazing. We serve a merciful and gracious God! 

    The second point the preacher made, was this:

  (2.) God cannot hear our prayer because of unbelief. 

Hebrews 11:16 says that, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him.." The rest of the verse tells us that, if we come to God, we must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. However, before we pray, we must ask ourself the question, is it the will of God? If you can validate the will of God through the word of God, you are to step out on faith, and do it. James 1:5-7 tells us that, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord." Notice the part where it says, "But let him ask in faith...", again bringing up the matter of belief. If we have faith that God shall bring something to pass, then He shall, in His will. Simple as that. He even said so, in Mark 11:24. 

  • Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 
- Mark 11:24

Believe, and "Ye shall have" is what He promised. 
    The next two verses in this chapter bring about the third, and last point. 

  (3.) God cannot answer prayer because of an unforgiving spirit.

  • And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
-Mark 11:25-26

     If you are not willing to forgive the wrong of others, then God is not going to forgive you, thus keeping that wall of separation between you and the Lord, and forming a rift in your relationship with Him. We are commanded over and over in the Word of God to forgive, even as Christ has forgiven us. Ephesians 4:31 tells us to, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." 

     Forgiveness is essential in the Christian's life, especially if we wish to have a close relationship with the Lord. 

     So, the next time you can't seem to get God's attention in the prayer closet, maybe it's because there's something in your heart that needs to be dealt with. I challenge you to ponder these things, and maybe even find a quiet place, where you can get things right with God, so your relationship with Him is once again restored. And remember that He faithful and just, merciful and gracious. He is wanting and waiting to forgive. :)

my love story// guest post

We are so very excited to share a guest post by Sarah Covey today!

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I'd like for you all to meet someone. He is the handsomest man in the whole wide world, and is just PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!! He is one of the richest men alive, because of who his Father is.

The only problem is that I haven't met him either. You see, the reason I know all this about him is: I've met his father. It is said he owns the cattle on a thousand hills. 

This Father was there when I was born, He knew me better than anybody, and He also knew that He had someone very special for me. When I was born, He
said 'one of my sons is perfect for this young lady.'

Then one day about 2 1/2 years ago, I got to personally meet the Father. I was at a Youth Camp. It was right after the evening sermon. You see, He knew that I was a wandering orphan heading down the wrong path. He knew that I was in need of a loving Father, so He asked if He could adopt me into His family. I, having known about Him all my life, accepted his offer. I then wondered why I hadn't joined His family before. I knew that He had been offering it all along, but I wasn't ready to accept His offer; He also knew that. When I was born, He saw that day in the future, when I would finally accept His offer. That day I became siblings with the most wonderful man, on earth at least.

So, well I'm waiting for my new Father to show me who this man is, I'm just staying in my Father's will, and trusting Him. My Father's been preparing me all my life for this man, but trust me, I'm FAR from being ready for him. And my Father knows that. I'm not out looking for this man, I'm staying in my Father's 'castle.' One day He will bring this man into my life, and until then I'll just keep trusting Him.

Now I have a question for you: Do you know my Father, did you know that you are a lost orphan also? Did you know that He is offering to became your father? And if you trust in Him, you'll see His ultimate provisions also. If you aren't one of my Father's children, why don't you just accept His offer? If you would like to know more about becoming one of my Father's children, just ask me or one of the other girls  and we would be glad to explain it to you more. Here's one of the promises my Father gave me before I became one of His children:  "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if
so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."

I can tell you a couple of things for sure: 1) He is waiting with arms WIDE open, 2) This is one of the most important decisions you can make in your life, 3) Don't wait, if you just accept my Father's offer, you will have peace and joy like you've never experienced.

 What a blessing to know that my Father has known about me from the very beginning, He's known about my very special man, and He knows that we are
the only ones that will be perfect for one another. I'm glad that I can trust in my Father for my partner, and that I don't have to spend much time wondering:
"is this man right? Is it the right time?" All I have to do is ask my Father.

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My name is Sarah Covey, I grew up in a christian home, and made a profession of faith when I was a little girl.  When I was 13 years old, I went to Northwoods Baptist Camp with a group from our church.  The guest preacher was Bro. Josh Jones from West Virginia. On Wednesday night Bro. Jones preached a powerful message on Hell. The Holy Spirit was convicting me during the invitation, but I put it off. Thursday night, during the invitation, Bro. Jones touched on the topic of Hell again, and the conviction came back.  God was giving me another opportunity.  That night I accepted Jesus as my Saviour.  Currently, I am tutoring and teaching piano lessons.  God has really shown Himself true in my life, especially this past year, and I can't wait to see what He has in store for me in the future.  You can keep up with current "happenings" at my blog: A Daughter of the King. 

beauty from the heart

this is what I shared with the girls last night for cabin devotions at camp. I hadnt really prepared anything, but the Lord laid these thoughts on my heart!  <3 Hannah

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What is THE most beautiful thing you have ever seen?

Last night I got a lot of answers to that question... the Grand Canyon, the countryside in France, newborn babies, nature, trees, the human body, etc...

  Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: 

but a woman that feareth the LORD, 

she shall be praised.

Proverbs 31:30

God made every single one of us beautiful in our own way. He made us exactly how he wanted, and in HIS eyes, each of us are perfect and beautiful. If someone doesn't like us, then they don't like what God made.

Beauty comes from the heart. Someone who has all the money in the world, the most "beautiful clothes", and tons of make up on is not truly beautiful unless their heart is beautiful.

For our heart to be beautiful we must not fill it with garbage, instead we must focus on having godly character...

Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, 

and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, 

in that which is not corruptible, 

even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, 

which is in the sight of God of great price.

1 Peter 3:3-4

Its not wrong for us to spend time looking nice, but we should be focused on making sure that our character is what God wants it to be!

Beauty comes from the heart! <3

*Each Sunday we are going to post a short devotional like this one, and I'd like to encourage each of you to memorize the main verse<Proverbs 31:30> and meditate on it throughout the week!