GOD, HELP US NOT TO LIVE SELF-OBSESSED.
Romans 8:5-8 "Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing." Self-Obsession! We are committed to our own well being. God, have mercy on us. If God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him.
GOD, HELP US TO BETTER LEARN WHAT IT MEANS TO BE PRESENT WITH OTHERS
Romans 8:18 "That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times." The joyful anticipation deepens. Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the Glory that will be revealed One Day. Meanwhile..."It's time for you to pass through the corridors where Truth is carefully outlined on the walls, where those who fail to realize that the corridor is but a hallway leading to a far better place do nothing but take notes." 66 LL
GOD, MAY WE HEAR YOUR STILL SMALL VOICE LEADING US TO REPENTANCE
Romans 8:23 - Groan Inwardly. Wait Eagerly. Love Deeply. It's the sermon that Larry preached on The Southern Steps in the ascent to Jerusalem. They purposefully built the grandeur steps uneven so that you have to slow down, can't run. They slowed you down on your ascent so that you can reflect on your life and what sin is keeping you from knowing God. Repent!
GOD, WOULD YOU PRAY FOR IN WORDLESS SIGHS?
Romans 8:26 - Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God." The Spirit of God can keep us present if we listen to Him. Satan wants us to live in the past or in the future.
You have been so super faithful to post while you were on your special trip...what a blessing each post was to read....may your heart stay full of Him as you ponder what you saw and what He taught you. Blessings on your week end with your family and may your jet lag be very, very short.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Mary Lou-praying with you for Bev's short jet lag. Thanks so much Bev, for giving us glimpses of your journey--you were a pilgrim in the truest sense.
ReplyDeleteEvery word in Romans is having its impact on me.
Sinply Embrace What the Spirit is dong! That’s Salvation!
Romans 8:4 - And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.
Romans 8:6 - Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.
This should be my life verse. It’s always selfishness that gets me into trouble. And it’s always God focus that brings joy.
Romans 8:26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
Romans 10:4-10 - It's the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—"Jesus is my Master"—embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation!
Bev, truly God blessed you with this trip. He has given you so much to Himself. I know your eyes were open to see Him and your ears were open to hear Him. But even greater than that, I know you felt Him there.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back. Somehow, I can't say welcome home. I feel like you have been home. Now you are back to this house, this family, this community. After walking through Jerusalem, now where else will ever be home.
You are back in your mission field. How I would love to sit and talk and listen to you.
Thank you for sharing with us. Love you!
"The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ's Word is preached, there's nothing to listen to."
ReplyDeleteHow well do I listen?
How well do I trust?
What hinders me most today? Pride or unbelief...?
Lord, I have only one desire today, and that is to be still and quiet so that I can listen to You. I want to hear You speak to me. I want to feel the sudden check in my spirit when I sense Your Presence. Oh, Jesus! I never want to miss Your Grace!
Romans 8: 1 -2"With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death."
ReplyDeleteRomans 8: 9 -11"But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!"
8:15 -17"This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!"
Arrived in Dallas and went straight to the City Parade and Lighting of the Tree with Bob & all my children and friends. It's 4:00AM in Israel (my body time) so my post will be short. Glad to be back but the trip ended up being the trip of a lifetime for me.
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