Memory Monday - Romans 12:1

Memory Monday on Saturday?  OOPS!  Been a rough week with lots going on including a deadline hanging over my head and a ton of work that took most of my energy to make sure I met that deadline.  Anyway, that meant that I could not spend any time blogging and now I am playing the catch up game - again (seems to be the story of my bloggy life)! However, even though I was not blogging I was still working on my memory verses and have truly been enjoying my morning walks.   Pretty sure I got this one...

Romans 12:1  And so dear brothers and sisters,
I plead with you to give your bodies to God
Let them be a living and holy sacrifice,
the kind that He will accept.
When you think of all that what He has done for you, is this too much to ask?

A couple minor problems, not too bad...so what does it mean?

My first thought on this part "give your bodies to God" was about all the ways that people abuse their own bodies.  And in a way it does, certainly we all have issues - maybe with bad habits, or in my case not trying hard enough to lose the baby weight - and seeing as my kids are 5 and 4 it is about time to do something about that...But this is really about way more than that, it is about obedience to God. 

If we are going about our day and not thinking about God and praying to Him throughout the day, about all the little things then we are not living for Him, we are not a living sacrifice.  But if we are actively pursuing a growing relationship with Him, then we are sacrificing the things of this world - the things that we could allow in that abuse our bodies.  When we are getting to know God we are focused on Him and not on ourselves, that is the kind of sacrifice He will accept.   The more we get to know God, the more we want to sacrifice for Him. 

I have been bombarded lately with messages about the difference between "knowing about God" versus "truly knowing God and having a personal relationship with Him".  And discovering the truths behind this verse is one more step on my path to getting closer to God.




In the Stepping Up Bible study we are to start memorizing Psalm 121, so that has been my memory verse for this week. 

Psalm 121
1 I raise my eyes toward the mountains.  Where will my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.
4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.
5 The LORD protects you; the LORD is a shelter right by your side.
6 The sun will not strike you by day, or the moon by night.
7 The LORD will protect you from all harm; He will protect your life.
8 The LORD will protect your coming and going both now and forever.






About Memory Monday
I originally found Memory Monday with Joanne at The Simple Wife.  The idea is to memorize a verse during the week and come back to her blog on Mondays to comment about it.  That's it, nothing fancy, just simply an encouragement and reminder to memorizing scripture for yourself.  Anyway, I had been away from blogging for quite sometime and when I got back into it one of the first blogs I checked in on was Joanne's.  That was the day after she suffered a major stroke. Please join in Memory Monday as a way to be blessed by hiding God's Word in your heart. And also join me in prayer for Joanne.

Stepping Up: Week 1 - Day 4

Day 4 - The Lord is your shelter

Today we continue with Psalm 121.
Psalm 121
1 I WILL lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.

This Psalm speaks of protection throughout, it is an assurance that God is always watching over us.  Every step we are protected and sheltered.  He is that maker of heaven and earth so He can do anything, including protecting us.  So why is there suffering, why do Christians have to endure what appears to be stumbling and pain.

Only when we realize that our world goes beyond what we can see, hear, and feel can we begin to grasp the awesomeness (is that even a word?) of these words in this Psalm.  Yes, we have trials in our lives - but they ultimately are for us to learn and grow closer to God.  What about all the ways Satan is trying to attack us, we are protecting from that which can push us off the path God intends us to be on.  He protects us from things we don't even know about!

Psalm 91:4 He will shield you with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
He allows us to spread our wings and venture out to explore the world around us, but when danger is upon us He shield us.  His promise of eternal life is our protection from anything and everything else.

Stepping Up: Week 1 - Day 3

Day 3 - The LORD Your Keeper

This morning was filled with praise...let me explain where I am...

I have a whole lot of work to do and was very far behind and worried that I would not meet the deadline.  So I came up with the idea to go to a nice quiet hotel for a couple days.  Yep, I basically ran away from home.  Now, I could have chosen a hotel near our home, but the nearest with internet access is probably 40-50 miles away so I thought why not drive a little further and go to the beach!  Pretty good thinking hey!

This was my view on my morning walk...sorry for the poor quality, it is from my cell phone.  I did not bring my camera - never even thought about it!  I am supposed to be working afterall...

Anyway, it was an amazing walk and I was awed by God's creation and one of the songs I sang to myself was this. Have a listen and praise with me...

Ok, now for the today's Bible study.  We are still looking at Psalm 121.  I love learning about the structure and translation of the Word, and that is part of what today's lesson is about.

Psalm 121
1 I WILL lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.

The first line of verse 5 "The Lord is your keeper" is the mid point of the psalm, because in Hebrew, there are 58 syllables before this phrase and 58 syllables after.  God's Word is perfect isn't it!!

Now what about translation, using the example from the workbook.  In the NASB verses 7-8:

The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.  The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.

This translation uses three different English words - I underlined them - to translate one Hebrew word 'shamar' which means "to keep, guard...to preserve, protect; to watch."  It is sort of disappointing to learn this because in translation we lose the impact that the Psalmist intended.  As Beth says in the workbook, "the Psalmist intended to hammer a point over and over again, repeating it until we got it: The LORD is your protector!"

As I was walking this morning I found myself having the most fun I have ever had at 7 in the morning - me not being a morning person, that says alot!  I was walking along the beach trying to be as close to the water as I could but trying to keep my feet dry at the same time.  Now if it were summer I would not have cared, but seeing as it was hovering around freezing I really did not care to have wet shoes for the remainder of my walk.  Anyway...as I was dodging waves I came to this conclusion...

Just as the waves kept trying to get my feet wet - wave after wave after wave, nonstop - so is Satan always trying to get at us and pull us away from our walk with God.  But God protects us and if we are paying attention to Him, "He will not allow your foot to slip" Psalm 121:3a (HCSB).

And just to 'hammer away' at this point I was stunned into amazement on my return to the hotel.  Here is what I saw...again, sorry for the quality.

Those are my footprints, I did not see anyone else on the beach this morning, so they are certainly mine.  I would not have missed this bright red ball on my way out, but it was certainly there on my way back!  Can you guess what it is?  It is a Christmas decoration, a bright shiny red Christmas ball.  A symbol of the birth of our Savior placed in my path.  So as I embark on this journey to learn the Psalms of Ascent I have been given a powerful reminder that the LORD is my protector.  I will treasure it always...

Stepping Up: Week 1 - Day 2

Day 2 - Woe is Me

Today we are looking at Psalm 120, the first in the Psalms of Ascent. 

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.

1 I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer.


2 Rescue me, O Lord, from liars and from all deceitful people.


3 O deceptive tongue, what will God do to you? How will he increase your punishment?


4 You will be pierced with sharp arrows and burned with glowing coals.

5 How I suffer among these scoundrels of Meshech! It pains me to live with these people from Kedar!


6 I am tired of living here among people who hate peace.


7 As for me, I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war!


Notice in verse 1 that the writer is calling out in distress.  That is where we should look first, stop all the complaining and look to Him.  But do we need to stop complaining?  No, not at all - and that is the lesson I learned today!!!

Psalm 142: 1-2 I cry out to the LORD; I plead for the LORD's mercy. I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.

Remember when we were studying Proverbs 31 and came across this verse...
Proverbs 21:19 It is better to live alone in the desert than with a crabby, complaining wife.
Well, I have been working hard to not voice my complaints to my hubby or to anyone really. But what I have been doing instead is getting more and more annoyed and frustrated. Never thought to voice those complaints straight up to God, to pour them out to Him. 
 
Today there was more though!  This is the first Psalm of Ascent, the first step on the journey to being closer to God.  For the Jews it was their starting point on the long journey to Jerusalem.  They were stuck in a place that they didn't want to be - verse 5 and were desiring peace - verse 6.
 
Can you relate to that, can you apply that to your life or even to your spiritual life?  Are you stuck in chaos but you desire the peace that God provides?  Is the 'war' around you so noisy that it drowns out God trying to speak to you?  Is that chaos so distracting that you are not getting the time with God that you need to find peace within the chaos?
 
Yep that was totally my experience when I was trying to read today's lesson in the workbook.  This how it went...
 
Read a few lines of the lesson...
Spend a few minutes getting Ben to pick something up that he threw on the floor
Kids yelling that the puppy peed on the floor, run to clean it up.


Read a few lines
Help Ben get dressed to go outside
Chase the puppy who is chewing on my shoe
 
Read a few lines
Help Sam and Carlee get dressed to go outside
 
Read a few lines
Chase puppy who is chewing on a pencil
 
Read a few lines
Ben comes in crying, help him get undressed

Read a few lines
Ben throwing a fit knocks over the chair, I tell him to pick it up
Try to read while listening to the screaming, doesn't work so just look at book pretending to read
Chase Ben, bring him back and tell him to pick up the chair
He finally picks up the chair

Read a few lines

Sam and Carlee come back in, help them get undressed

Ok, take a deep breath and read a few lines

Pretty sure I chased the puppy a few more times!
Ben throws a cloth on the floor, I tell him to ...well you get the idea, we went through a cloth, a pen, and him nearly knocking over the laundry basket. Then he starts whining for juice, I tell him that he may have juice when he asks without whining.  He whines about wanting juice for several minutes before he finally asked nicely.

During all this mess this is what I read - no I am not kidding, this is really in the book, right there on page 21, the exact spot that I was at during this chaotic morning! 

Consider the final plea of the psalmist in Psalm 120. Lord I'm weary of living or working continually around people who thrive on conflict, I want peace, but they love a battle (author's paraphrase). Is this you?

Yep I had one of those laugh your head off til you cry moments! 

Stepping Up - Week 1, Day 1

Day One - Worship on the Way

Let's start with a direct quote from the workbook...

I believe He has the following goals for all of us:
- God desires to dramatically change our outlook on daily life.
- God wants to raise us to a higher plain of worship and service.
- God wills to usher us to the next step in our personal journeys with Him even if we have to press through the thickest forest to get to it.

The first thing that sounded so wonderful was for God to change my outlook.  There are many moments in every day that need to be changed - and I will leave it at that for now!

In my memory verse this week Romans 12:1, part of it says When you think of all He has done for you, is this too much to ask?  I doubt that any of comes close to the level of praise and worship He deserves.  We all need to increase in this area!

The suggestion in the workbook is to make a commitment to "take a moment every day to get down on our faces before God." All the way on the floor.  Now this is certainly something I am willing to do, I just need to be creative in order to avoid the distractions of three kids jumping on me or dogs trying to see what is going on.  I do love the concept - it is the ultimate way to humble yourself before God.  Then I thought how can we be humble before God?  Here are some thoughts...

• eager to share all that you have
• gaining and seeking knowledge
• grateful in all things, even in suffering
• listen more than you speak, and only speak kindly
• do not judge
• be gentle and patient
• know that God provides all things

That is just a quick list, and if I had the time I would support all of it with scripture, but right now I need to go make lunch!

Stepping Up - Introduction

Time for another Beth Moore study and I am so excited about it!  I will try to blog through it -  I have been doing great at getting homework done so now I just need to work at blogging as I go.  Please pray that I have the perseverance to do it.

I do have to state my disclaimer here, that many of the ideas are not my own.  This is a directed and guided Bible study using the Stepping Up workbook.  Each day of homework that I blog about comes from this workbook and some of it may even be directly quoted.  The credit needs to go to Beth Moore and ultimately to God.  He has guided me down this particular path and will guide me in what I need to learn.  And I thank him for providing such a wonderful teacher as Beth Moore!!

Ok, the basis for this study is 15 Psalms - Psalm 120-134 which are the Psalms of Ascent.  I had no clue what that meant, but it is actually really amazing.  These are Psalms that the Jews would sing on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

In the session we also learned that in the Temple court there is a staircase that has 15 steps, which could have been one for each of the 15 Psalms.  The parallel that we can draw is that as we work through each Psalm we are stepping up and moving on from where we have been.  Each step gets us closer to God.

So what do we want from Bible study, what should we be striving for?  Beth states in the workbook...

"I expect nothing less than a new level of intimacy with God through these pages."  and goes on to state "The more we bare our souls to God, the safer we'll feel with Him and the closer we'll draw to Him." 

 And that is what it is all about - drawing closer to Him!

As always, the DVD session was fantastic and it is exciting to be studying with Beth again!  The visuals of the temple were amazing and really makes me want to visit Israel!  She reminds us that the Jews had to go to the temple to get close to the presence of God, but through Jesus we are invited into His presence at all times.  She also left me with a powerful image... (not a direct quote because I can't write that fast - but the concept is there).

Imagine Jesus coming down those 15 steps towards you, holding out his hand and saying "Come with me, one step at a time, I am with you" 

Jesus brings us into the presence of God and guides us as we get closer to Him.

Memory Monday - Galatians 2:20

I have been working on Galatians 2:20 this past week.  I struggled with it at the beginning of the week, the wording just did not roll off my tongue easily.  But then I got my out my new spiral notebook

and wrote down Psalm 23 as my Jan 1 verse, 2Cor 5:17 as my Jan 15 verse, and Gal 2:20 as my Feb 1 verse.  It really is true how writing it out can help with remembering it.  It also helps to write it out with natural breaks, sort of like how you would say it.  Anyway, let's see if I got it...

Living the New Life - Christ the Center
Galatians 2:20
I myself no longer live
but Christ lives in me.
So I live my life in this earthly body
by trusting in the Son of God
who loved me and died gave himself for me!

Oops a couple minor problems.  Good thing I wrote them down in my cute little spiral so that I can take it with me on my walks.

Ok, so what does this verse mean?

I see it as not being alone.  Although I know I will have trials and I will struggle I am comforted with the knowledge that through it all Christ is with me.  When I am overwhelmed all I need to do is remember to put Christ at the center, to trust in Him.  When I do that I can walk through the trial with the peace He provides.

By the way, I did take my spiral with me on my walk this morning.  My walk almost didn't happen for a couple reasons and I was incredibly discouraged, but eventually I got going and the first thing I did was start from the beginning... (well the beginning of my memory verses that is)

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the still waters. 

...and suddenly I was able to take a deep breath and enjoy my walk, to enjoy the coolness of the morning, the beauty of the fog, the amazement of how sound carries differently in the fog, to enjoy the birds singing their morning songs...

I was suddenly at peace and the discouragements I had felt moments before were gone.  So for me, this is just one reason why memorizing scripture is so important.  However, I did find myself wishing I had more verses hidden in my heart!  Three verses are not alot when you are walking more than a mile.  I need more to repeat...

So on to the next verse from the Topical List of scriptures to memorize.  The Series is still Live the New Life, but now the Topic is Obedience to Christ

Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? (NLT)

uggg...I just know this is going to be one of those big ol' kicks in the butt.  Need at least a week to meditate on this one, that's for sure!




About Memory Monday
I originally found Memory Monday with Joanne at The Simple Wife.  The idea is to memorize a verse during the week and come back to her blog on Mondays to comment about it.  That's it, nothing fancy, just simply an encouragement and reminder to memorizing scripture for yourself.  Anyway, I had been away from blogging for quite sometime and when I got back into it one of the first blogs I checked in on was Joanne's.  That was the day after she suffered a major stroke. Please join in Memory Monday as a way to be blessed by hiding God's Word in your heart. And also join me in prayer for Joanne.

About Siesta Scripture Memory Team
This is another program to encourage us to memorize scripture and is hosted by Beth Moore over on her blog  Living Proof Ministries Blog.  This program is set up so that each person on the Siesta Scripture Memory Team will memorize two verses a month and post a comment on the LPM blog on the 1st and the 15th of the month.  If you do that all year you get to attend a Celebration next January!  I so want to do that, don't you?