Mary's Heart

Yesterday I was in my Sunday morning class and Cheri quoted this verse from Luke.  It was Mary's heart after the angel of the Lord told her she would carry God's Son in her womb.

Luke 1:38 (ESV)
And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

What willingness! What complete and utter trust in the Lord! May I have a heart like Mary did and fully trust in the Lord's plans for my life.

Lord, I am your servant.  Let it be to me according to your word.

Worship

A person who is worshiped is thought about constantly, spoken of continually, with every attribute examined and praised toward deeper understanding and the closest possible relationship.  Worship of even the finest human being, of course, will ultimately bring disappointment, because every human being has every faculty undermined by sin-and only the Creator God, good and perfect in every characteristic, must be worshiped.

(excerpt from my BSF notes)

Winter Wonderland

Here in MinneSNOWta I woke up to this Winter Wonderland.  It was beautiful out but also bittersweet because it means that it is an end to my favorite season . . . Fall.  :)   There were a couple trees still holding on to their golden leaves!  

It really is beautiful out! 

View outside my window.  It's so pretty to see the snow resting on the empty branches.

The three trees holding on to their orange golden leaves.

Hold on to your golden leaves you beautiful Fall leaves!!!

 The snow piling on the porch.

Pic of the rain gauge. How much "rain" do you think we got?  

Anyone want to sit on the porch for coffee?  Nothing like a little snow to get in the way.

It was a perfect morning to make a homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte to sit by the window to watch the snow come down while reading from Romans!  What a perfect morning.  :)  

Take My Life

Here is a video with the song Take My Life by Chris Tomlin. This song has been stirring in my heart this last week. The lyrics depict such a beautiful and sweet surrender to letting God have all of you.

"Here am I. All of me. Take my life. It's all for Thee." Lord hear my prayer.

Beloved

Psalm 42

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.

 ¹As a deer pants for flowing streams,
   so pants my soul for you, O God.²My soul thirsts for God,
   for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God? ³My tears have been my food
   day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
   "Where is your God?"⁴These things I remember,
   as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
   and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
   a multitude keeping festival.

 ⁵Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my salvation 

⁶and my God.

   My soul is cast down within me;
   therefore I remember you
 from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
   from Mount Mizar.⁷Deep calls to deep
   at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
   have gone over me.⁸By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
   and at night his song is with me,
   a prayer to the God of my life.⁹I say to God, my rock:
   "Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
   because of the oppression of the enemy?"¹⁰As with a deadly wound in my bones,
   my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
   "Where is your God?"

 ¹¹Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my salvation and my God.

2 Chronicles 7:14-15 

¹⁴if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

These verses are written in a fictional book peppered with scriptural truths that I'm reading now called Israel, My Beloved by Kay Arthur.  This story is about a nation, a nation chosen by God, for God. In this story a woman named Sarah is representing the nation Israel.  In Ezekial 16, the prophet Ezekiel depicts a little baby abandoned in a field "abhorred" then to be taken as the adorned wife of God only to give that up to become an adulterer and harlot with many lovers.  The character Sarah portrays this young baby. 

In chapter 13 these particular verses were mentioned. in this chapter, Sarah is reflecting on why she is in captivity at this particular time and how she did not heed the warnings of her husband and the prophet Jeremiah. She is frustrated with herself and some friends coax her off of the couch to come to the synagogue to worship. A friend Nadab talks about their new place to worship in the foreign land of Babylon, "You know, I believe the synagogue will become the center of our lives.  It will be a place that reminds us no matter where we are, we are still the chosen people of the Almighty. I believe it will keep us from being absorbed by the culture in the land of our dispersion (page 74)."   It's at the synagogue she hears the passage from Psalm 42.  It rings so true to her at that time because her soul has been downcast, she has encountered people falling by the sword due to the captivity of her city Jerusalem.  She has been confronted with her idolatry which has led her into the captivity she is facing at the present time. She is reflecting on what she had with her husband. After she leaves the synagogue and spends time walking and mediating on the truth she just heard from Psalm 42 she remembers "the promise her husband gave to Solomon on the day Solomon's temple was dedicated.  It was a promise give for such a time as this--when they found themselves captives in a foreign land: 'If...My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heavem will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  Now My eyes shall be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.' (page 75)."  After this reminder, "Sarah sets her face toward home. . . Maybe her prayers would be heard. Maybe her land would be healed. And maybe she would be healed as well. Maybe someday she would not have a care in the world.  Maybe someday life would be without discordant notes, like the melody of the birds who sang so joyfully each morning and awakened her with their delight over another day---a day without concern because they lived in total dependence on their Creator (page 75)."

The author continues on page 76:  

"Indeed, Sarah's prayers would be answered and in the fullness of time she would be healed as would her land. But not before she walked through a fiery oven burning with incomprehensible horror, the last and worst of several more yet to come. And not before her heart of stone cracked and she was given a new heart --a heart of flesh, which she so desperately needed 

Sarah slept less and less. Instead she walked and thought about her affliction and wondering--the bitter pain of it all. And as she did, she recalled that her husband's lovingkindnesses never ceases.  Her soul would not be cast down any longer, she would hope in him and the promise that his compassions never fail and his mercies are new every morning. She remembered that his gifts and calling of her were irrevocable. After all, he even engraved my name on the palms of his hands.  

A cleansing and nourishing took place. Each day as his words became her very bread of life, Sarah found a new strength, new vigor...and with it came a new beauty (page 76)." 

This is absolutely beautiful.  I'm excited to continue reading this book! Here are the passages from Ezekial where this story got it's inspiration.    

Ezekial 16:1-8

¹Again the word of the LORD came to me: ² "Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, ³and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ⁴And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. ⁵No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.

 ⁶"And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' ⁷ I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.

 ⁸"When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine.

Ezekial 16:10-17

¹⁰ I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹ And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. ¹²And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. ¹⁴And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.

 ¹⁵ "But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. ¹⁶You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. ¹⁷You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.

Ezekial 16:25

²⁵At the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination, offering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your whoring.

Ezekial 16:30-32

³⁰"How sick is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, ³¹building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.³²Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!

The Discipline of Grace (Chapter 3)

Here are some great excerpts from the book The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges for the third chapter.  This book has been so great for me and I highly recommend it!  

"To be justified is to be absolved from any charge of guilt and to be declared absolutely righteous.  We are not only discharged from all liability to God's wrath because of our guilt; we are personally accepted by God because of Christ.  Justification is like the two sides of a coin.  On the one side we are declared "not guilty" before God, and on the other we are positively declared to be righteous through Christ. That is, we are counted in God's sight as having perfectly obeyed the law of God."  

"We must keep in mind that our justification by God is based solely on the meritorious work of Christ and our union with Him. That is, God sees us legally as so connected with Christ that what He did, we did.  When He lived a life of perfect obedience, it is as if we had lived a life of perfect obedience.  When He died on the cross to stisfy the just demands of God's Law, it is just as if we had died on that cross.  Christ stood in our place as our representative, both in His sinless life and His sin-bearing death. That is what Paul referred to when he said, "I have been crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20)."  

"To live by the gospel, then, means that we firmly grasp the fact that Christ's life and death are ours by virtue of our union with Him.  What He did, we did. This is the only sense in which we can understand Paul's bold statements in Romans 8."

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (verse 1); "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (verse 31); and "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies" (verse 33).  These statements by Paul are objective truths; that is, they are true whether we grasp them or not.  So often, however, we find it difficult to believe them. Because of our frequent failures before God, we do feel under condemnation, we do not feel God is for us but rather must surely be against us, we do think He is bringing charges against us. At such times we must preach the gospel to ourselves.  We must review what God has declared to be true about our justification in Christ."  

(emphasis added, pages 53-54)

 LOVE this.  These verses are so huge for me and reading this I have been able to see it in a different light.  I think I'm finally starting to grasp what it means to be justified along with the importance of preaching the gospel to myself, especially during those times when I feel like I've failed, under condemnation, and feel like I need to perform or earn His love. This correlates nicely with my previous entry about Fear of Man and these verses have been helpful for me to fight with against the idolatry I've struggled with.  It's so important to preach the gospel to myself (ourselves).  Fighter verses are huge in combating the lies we face.   

Fear of Man

Father,

As I look back at this journal and review all my previous entries.  I'm frustrated with myself for my repeated behavior/patterns and for my realization of idolatry in my life.  When will I learn? I'm tired of repeating the some offenses. I don't want any part of it.  I'm sick of it and I'm humbled by your patience with me.  

Repeated patterns: 

* shame (of past failures)

* feeling like I've failed...this has been in regards to failing others & holding their opinion of me higher than God's opinion of me.

* people pleasing, which is idolatry

* allowing condemnation of me by others and including condemnation of myself

* fear of man (idolatry)

* trying to find satisfaction in things of the flesh-won't satisfy and it leaves me unfulfilled

• Idols take a good thing turn it into a God thing which becomes a bad thing.
• Idolatry gives you identity.  It defines you.  And you are not rooted in Christ with that identity.
• Idols lie by telling you, you are righteous.  If we worship them we will become more righteous.  Become proud & smug.
• Build your life on your identity in Christ!  Colossians 3:3-4
• What do I treasure?  Luke 12:34
• How do you uncover your idols? 
• Where does your time go?
• Where does your money go?
• What do you make emotional sacrifices for?
• Idolatry destroys people we love the most. Idolatry dishonors God. It destroys people we love the most because they will crumble at not being able to live up.
• If something is an idol we demonize all else that would go against our idol.
• Idolatry starts at the heart before it touches the hands or seen by the eyes.  It's a matter of the heart.

Ezekial 14:1-7

¹ Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. ² Then the word of the LORD came to me: ³ "Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry. ⁵ I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.'

 ⁶ "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!

 ⁷ " 'When any Israelite or any alien living in Israel separates himself from me and sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet to inquire of me, I the LORD will answer him myself.

Proverbs 1:7

⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
       but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

* Fear of God

Proverbs 29:25

 ²⁵ Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
       but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.

* Fear of man

• People are paralyzed by the fear of man.  Holds person in awe.  Being controlled & mastered by people! Needing people.  Can't really love them.  Replace God for people.
• If you idolize something you have to demonize it. 

What the text says:

REPENT!

Not what we preach but we first practice.  Anyone who doesn't repent is a heretic.  

What are you choosing to worship other than God?  
What are your idols?  
Are you willing to repent and admit what those are idols in your life are?    


Depend on the Lord.  Worship Him only. Really examine your own heart to see what you are holding higher than the Lord.