Lost In the Prairies.....Found by God

Ah quiet time.  Where did you go?  There was a time I got up without any trouble.  Where I didn't hit the alarm button and then turn over and go back to sleep.  I have been struggling for some time on getting up.  I know what I should do and yet.....I don't do.  This was no exception this week.   I am going to make myself and you a promise that this week, I will get up and do my quiet time.  I want to get back into a routine.  To go to bed earlier and get up earlier so that I can spend some quiet time with God and get re-energized.  

This week God was really talking to me about Pride.  It hit me in last week's verses and while reading So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore.   I started this week struggling with a situation with some friends.  I won't go into particulars but this quote by Beth Moore really spoke to the situation.

"Sometimes people and situations make us feel insecure because they nick our pride, plain and simple.  all the blows of life aside and every other root yanked out of the ground, we wrestle with insecurity because we wrestle with pride"

I hadn't thought of that before.  I was so focused on myself and my feelings in the situation.  I felt the victim.  But why?  Why was I allowing this to control me and make me feel less?  Why was I questioning what kind of friend I was?  It was because my pride had been bruised.  I thought I was something to someone only to discover I wasn't.  Then who was I?  

This week's verses dealt with pride.  In Mark 9: 33-35, the disciples argue with each other as to who was the greatest.  Talk about pride and vanity.  Jesus never walked around saying He was God and therefore the best and all should bow down in awe to Him.  He was humble.  He was sacrificial.  He was loving.  He didn't hang out with the "cool" kids, He hung out with the rejects, the troublemakers, the messies.  He didn't judge them, He accepted them as they were.  He was about others, not self.  This is something that I need to remember.  I need to lay down my pride and embrace humility and sacrifice.  I need to remember that others should come first, not me.  I need to accept that I am not in control of things.   Only by doing so will I become more like Christ.

This week we are going to look at the verses through the Paraphrase method.  We are to first read the verse or passage over and over.  Think about what God is telling you through the verses we are studying.  Then put the scripture in your own words.  See how this applies to you and then pray about it.  I know I have a problem memorizing verses, but can paraphrase verses quite easily   It should be interesting where God leads us this week as we are studying James.

This week's verses:

This week's memory verse:

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.  Psalm 119:11 (NIV)

Week two.  How did you do?  Did you get your study done everyday?  Or did you cram it all into one session.  Confession time - that's what I did.  For some reason this week I have been unable to get out of bed early to do my personal devotion time.  As a result, this week I have been overwhelmed, depressed, in a fog, set adrift, lost, angry, frustrated,......I could go on, but I won't.  I have no one else to blame but myself.  I could have gotten myself up.  My alarm went off.  I could of rolled out of bed instead of rolling over.  This week I have been running on fumes, when I could have been running on a full tank.  

When I do this it reminds of my own hypocrisy of telling my daughter to do her homework daily.  Of putting in the time to get good grades instead of watching TV or playing video games.  I can't expect her to get it right when I myself am failing.  I need to set good guidelines, not just for her, but also for me.  I need to lead by example.  Right now the rules seems to be "do as I say, not as I do."  Doesn't really seem fair and it isn't.  I need to get my act together so that I can teach her to get hers in order.

I loved the "Picture It" method.  I loved envisioning myself in the place of one of the characters in the Bible story.  It was a great way of thinking of what it would have been like to see Jesus and hear Jesus. Even though I crammed I got a lot out of the weeks study.  Funny enough the truths that came out at me were ones I needed to hear this week.  They were ones about Jesus' healing relief and freedom (Mark 1:40-45; 5:21-45; & Mark 7:31-37); about trusting Jesus to provide (Mark 6:35-44); and about where Jesus is in the storms (Mark 4:35-41; Mark 6:45-51). Another good reminder why I should be in the Word daily.  These are all things I need to be reminded of and need to embrace.  

My favourite word also came out this week in the study - "Ephphatha".  It used to be my signature line for my blog.  It means "be opened."  I wrote a blog about it when I first blogged.  How I still long to be open.  How I long to be completely authentic in my walk.  How I long to be free from the bondage that I cling to.  God again placed this verse in my life to remind me that I am free.  Free in Him if I would but believe it.  I do believe it and will embrace it.  I already feel a fresh wind flowing around me and renewing me.  I feel lightened and embraced.  I feel open.  I long to stay open.  

This week as we read we are to try the Probe It method or the SPACEPETS method.  It is more based on action then complete reflection   I am interested to see how this goes and can't wait to write more about it next week.