This is the hope offered to us: the surety of His oath

"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." Hebrews 6:19-20

Recently I have been studying Hebrews, which I love, I think it is one of my favorite books. This morning I was in chapter six and was really encouraged by it.

It starts by encouraging believers to not fall away, talking about diligence as a way to "make your hope sure" and to "inherit what has been promised".

The interesting thing about this book is that the writer never says something without backing it up; they never assume that we take God's promises, hope, or faith as a given. The next section goes on to explain why we have reason to have hope in God's promises, the title of it is "The Certainty of God's Promise"... I like that. Anyway I thought it was really cool so I'll share what God showed me through it.

God showed me that we can trust in His promise because: He has no greater name by which He can swear by than His own. And because an oath assures us that His words are trustworthy. (Hebrews 6:13-17)

I never really understood the significance of an oath until I looked up the definition. It is defined as "a solemn appeal to a deity, or to some revered person or thing, to witness one's determination to speak truth, to keep a promise." The idea is that no one swears by God unless he is absolutely determined to speak the truth. Since God has no greater name by which he can swear we can trust his promises.

Jesus once talked about a man's oath saying "Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black." (Matthew 5:34-36) That really put the significance of the word in perspective for me! We do not even have the ability to keep a promise the way God can because we are so much more limited than Him. We cannot even swear by our own head without relying on God because He makes our hairs white or black and He created all things that we might swear by.

And in another place Paul talks about it like this:

" Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us;
if we are faithless, he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself."
2 Timothy 2:11-13

The saying is trustworthy because God cannot deny himself, His name is higher than all names and He cannot break a promise without denying His very nature.

I love how God's trustworthy nature is called "an anchor for the soul". It's so true! If there is one thing in life we can really rely on it is God, we can anchor ourselves to His promises and never be let down! That is awesome... it's a promise within a promise, God will keep His word. And it is the whole reason we have to be diligent in following him, it gives us reason to hope and to have faith. I'm encouraged, how about you?? :)

Join Me!

Hello friends! It's been so long! I'm gonna keep this short and sweet though. I've recently been led to start a new prayer habit and I am looooooving it. It's only been about a week or so but I've been committing to daily praying for the nations by following the Wycliffe Prayer Blog. It has been AWESOME. So I decided to exhort anyone who is led to join me!

Today I met with a couple of girlfriends to talk about prayer and, of course, to pray! We discussed some common challenges that people have with prayer. Some problems were about how we don't know how to pray or what to pray for and that we are often praying for our will because that comes easiest to us. I think we can solve some of these problems by standing with the Lord in interceding for His will for His kingdom!

So let's do it! You don't have to use the same prayer blog as I do, or even use any guide at all, but please join me in lifting up our missionaries and the millions of itching ears around the world that have yet to hear of the glory of God!

His Banner Over Me is Love.

This morning God brought me to Psalm 60, I feel like it was no coincidence that He led me there. I was so blessed by it, so I had to share it with you all. God had me dig into this verse (4):

"But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow." Selah

God has brought my family and I into a season of faith building recently; seasons like this are confusing in that they can be hard, but also can be very blessed. I've felt the evidence of this over the past week. Every day isn't wonderful, but I feel such an assurance that God is good. When I read this verse I felt so excited that my God is my protector and that He loves me so much! God brought to mind another verse: "He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love." Song of Songs 2:4

I love that God's protection of us isn't detached. When He fights for us He does it from a place of fierce devotion and love. God's love is the one thing that strengthens my faith in Him. Anyone can believe that the God who hung the stars CAN do all things, but faith really comes down to will He? Will God fight for me when I really need Him to? God's love tells me that yes He will, and that whatever comes my way has not been unnoticed by Him.

This morning I've come to realize once again my love for Blue Letter Bible. I looked up the definition of the word banner and found this:"God's setting up or giving a banner imports his presence and protection and aid extended to his people." They referenced both of the verses above. God's love and his protection go hand in hand!

The last verse referenced in this definition says: "We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand." Psalm 20:5-6

Amen. I will shout for joy when He is victorious. To God be the glory.


Here is a sweet treat for you my friends, this song is wonderful. Tonight is the Potter's field presentation at Calvary, I've never seen it before...I can't wait, it should be amazing!

Worship Him in Humbleness.

This last week at Calvary we had our annual seven days of fasting and prayer. To be honest, going into this week, I was not excited. I was ready to sit this one out, and I had every excuse ready for doing so. But God had other plans and He actually had me fast for the entire seven days. I had never fasted for seven days before and my past experiences with fasting last year and the year before were really hard, but God met me in such an incredible way this week and He gave me so much strength, energy and joy!

The first day of the fast was funny because that morning at church there was a lot of talk about how this fast was going to be about humbling ourselves, and my first thought was, "no... I don't think that's what God has for me this week.."

Hmmmm..... one sign that you need to be humbled: thinking that you don't.

I went into last week with a couple of things on my heart that I wanted God to hear and answer but a word that was spoken over this fast was: God you always hear me. Help me hear you.

God spoke to my heart this week about striving. Striving in our Christianity without really even knowing we're doing it. Confession: I am a striver! Sometimes I feel my heart is right behind it because I want to know the Lord so much, but God helped me recognize that there is a difference between being steadfast and striving. He spoke to me that He is God and I am man so I should let my words be few (Ecclesiastes 5:2). I shouldn't come into His presence with an agenda because He is Holy! I'd been bypassing the peace of God, He told me to just enjoy Him.

He brought to mind the story of Mary and Martha at the beginning of the week and I didn't think too much of it until I realized what He was saying. It's funny how the very things we are striving for God is so willing to give us if we humble ourselves. I so long to be Mary in this story, there is such beauty in the passion she poured out at Christ's feet. So I strove to be like her. But God gently reminded me that Mary didn't strive to be passionate, it overflowed from a place of peace and intimacy with God.

This week was so different than how I expected it to be. I expected a big epiphany, one big giant move from God. Instead God quietly spoke and worked and sustained. I started this week feeling like something was holding me back from being able to fully enter into God's presence, God humbled me and filled me afresh with his Spirit. He reignited my passion for Him. I feel joyful, new, and free. This is SO long, I'm sorry, and I still feel like I can't really put words to what God has done this week.

Here is the verse I feel on my heart walking away from this week:

"He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me." Psalm 18:19



Flashback! So this song played this morning and it brought me back to the good old days, Aquire the Fire in junior high. Plus it's beautiful, so I thought I'd share. :)

My Resolution: The Heart of God.

"If you are controlling your life and spending it on yourself, even partly, you are abusing it and taking it away from God's original purpose. Learn from Christ that the beauty and purpose of having life is so that you can surrender it to God and then allow Him to fill it with His glory."

Andrew Murray

Last night I was spending some time with the Lord and He laid the idea of resolutions on my heart. I'm not really a new year's resolution kind of girl, in fact I'm pretty sure this year was the first time I have ever bothered to make one. I think making resolutions usually sets you up for disappointment; I think it might be contrary to our nature to hold to plans to change ourselves with so little accountability. I guess that's where God comes in.

Anyway, God didn't lead me to this thought to encourage some crazy diet fad or whatever other resolutions people are planning for 2011. It was more like I was encouraged to think about spending this year expectantly waiting on God. To resolutely seek God's heart and to truly surrender myself to Him. Not in a way that has to begin on January 1st and end on December 31st, but I do feel excited for a new year and a fresh start. I feel like I want this year to be a marker of deeper intimacy with God. It's not like I can plan for that, but I feel like God is leading me to expect it and to be excited for it.

Today I was thinking about what the Bible has to say about this and what our part is in it. The verse that came to mind is Luke 9:51 where it says: "As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem." Jesus had a determination about him to do the will of God. He was always "about the Father's business". The depth of Jesus' surrender to the will of God is truly breathtaking.

I have been reading the book Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray, which the quote above came from. Today I read the chapter "That God May Be All in All". It was so amazing, I feel like I need to read it about four more times to get everything out of it. The chapter was about how Jesus' life was all about giving glory to God so that He may be all in all! He talks about how to live a life like that, and I was so encouraged by it. There is sooo much good stuff in that book so far, I would encourage you to read it in you haven't!

So I guess, in short, I want this year to be about God. Just like I wanted last year to be about God and the year before. Nothing new, but at the same time always surprising, growing, changing and amazing me. I don't want to "do my best" for God, I want to give God everything and let Him do whatever He wants with it. I want to seek God's heart with determination, like Jesus did. I want to live my life "that God may be all in all". I guess I just want focus. No distractions, just Jesus, because nothing else compares.

I love this song by Misty Edwards, it led me to this rabbit trail of thoughts. I think it has something to do with the fact that she says "yester-year" haha. :)

Be Generous.

Okay, so I have been horrible at keeping up with this blog recently! What have I been up to? Just crazy busy trying to keep up with school and work and everything else that makes up the life of a student! I have great news to share though, I have finished reading the Old Testament! I am just looooving this year through the Bible thing and I'm eating up every word! Not to say that I've been super faithful the whole time so far, but I'm trying and God is definitely blessing the effort!

So I started reading the Gospels this week and God had a great reminder ready for me. Here's the verse:

"If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." Matthew 5:41-42

God has been impressing on me the idea of generosity. Not just generosity with finances, but the idea of having generosity become a part of my character, an overflow from my heart. Generosity is something that Jesus commands of us. It is an expression of our love. There are so many ways we can be genuinely generous. Like extending a hand of friendship to someone. Anyone and everyone. Being generous with our time and love towards people. I think it is easy to become unknowingly stingy in this. It's easy to say we don't have the time or the resources to reach out to someone or to walk in something that God is calling us to. I guess I just wanted to encourage you readers to go the extra mile. Jesus did promise us that we would be generously given to, as we generously give.

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over , will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38

Let's not be stingy! Lets love and give as Jesus loved and gave his life for us! I needed this reminder so much, praise the Lord for His faithfulness in teaching and correcting us, I just want to be more like him! :)

Perfection.

Today I was thinking, as I often do, about the things that I want out of life, what I want from God, the things that I think would make my life perfect.

God has been teaching me a thing or two about my ideas of perfection. One thing He is teaching me is that my ideas of perfection are not constant, they are subject to change. God's plans are so definite. I can sometimes get frustrated with God for not having all the things that I want right now, but an instant later I have changed my plan or my picture goes from being perfect to being scary and too set in stone.

In my Bible study a few days ago I read about God's tasks for us versus his calling over our lives. I found such encouragement in her words about what it means to follow God daily:

"In our human need for security and sameness, we tend to want one job assignment from God that we can do for the rest of our lives. He's far more creative than that!"

I think it would be scarier for me to find my perfect plan and stick to it, than to live life step by step, day by day with the Lord. God doesn't do things the way we would do them because he thinks bigger and he sees such a broader picture. (Isaiah 55:8-9) He also does everything out of love.

Another thing God challenged me to think about is why perfection to me is attached to so many titles: wife, mother, insert job title here... :) I've been thinking, Does having my hands full make me more me?

Here is what I read yesterday:
" Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?"
Jeremiah 22: 15-16

God wants us to live surrendered to him, not bound to our perfect plans. I don't believe that wanting those things is wrong, but I think I tend to feel the most weary when I live life waiting on things or titles rather than waiting on God. And do you want to know what the most perfect part of this lesson is? The result of God teaching me this has been him bringing me into a really satisfied place. And that feels like perfection.