Ministry of writing
1“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” — Matthew 6:1 (NKJV)
A few months ago I got a comment on one of my blog posts. The comment referenced this verse and made me stop and think. I was sharing in the post, one of my struggles and how I think God wanted me to handle it. My intentions for sharing that information were not to thump my chest and say “look at me! I’m great and wonderful!” But evidently someone wanted to remind me not to do my charitable deeds before men. So then I started thinking about writing. Writing can be a very public thing — especially when you’re blogging on the internet. You may think no one is reading it, but you’d be wrong.
My purpose for writing is one, to follow God’s will for my life and two, to share my God experiences with others so that they may not feel alone. When Jesus shared these words, He was speaking to priests — the religious people — in His day (of course we have religious people like this today — all around unfortunately). He knew their hearts and intentions. They did not care about God as much as they did their reputation — what others saw them do. Only Jesus knows my heart and knows why I write what I do, but I hope I never come across to anyone as trying to boast about accomplishments. Because I know it’s God working in those accomplishments — not me. If it were up to me, I’d crawl back in the bed and pull the covers over my head — not put myself, my embarrassment, my wrong choices out there on the internet for the world to find.
Prayer: Lord, please help me to focus on You and Your will for my life. Help me to remove my ego and let You use me and write through me. I never want to take credit for anything, because I am nothing without You. Everything I’ve ever accomplished in my life has been through Your grace. Be with every person reading this. Guide them in what they should do — their charitable deeds — and guide them in what to share with others and what to keep between You and them.
1 commentSeek FIRST
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” — Matthew 6:33
Where have I been the past 2 months? Did I stop using the potty?
No, I didn’t stop using the potty. But I’ve been doing the exact thing I warned all of you against — not seeking God first in all that I do. I don’t know if I became lazy, tired, or just plain indifferent.
Last week we went on a family vacation — just the 3 of us. My husband, my daughter and me. Honestly, I didn’t want to go. My husband insisted we should take our daughter to Orlando (Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Sea World and Wet N’ Wild). Why didn’t I want to go? Because I knew what would happen. I would be stuck in the middle. My daughter often craves my attention. She just wants to be in the same room with me. My husband craves my attention at times too. What could I do? Nothing really other than make sure the hotel room had at least 2 tvs — because they must have their own space at the end of the day. The problem only comes when they want Mommy to share that separate space with them.
By Day 3 of the vacation, we were not acting like a family at all. Seriously, how hard can it be for 3 people to get along? That night in the hotel room, I grabbed my journal. I literally was so twisted up inside I didn’t know which way was up. I wrote. I prayed. I wrote prayers. “God, help us get through this vacation without killing each other.” “God, only you can straighten this out so we can have somewhat of a good time.”
It felt good to write — to talk to God again. Where had I been? I couldn’t tell you. What I can tell you is that God still answers prayers. We all made it home from vacation 
He answered my other questions too — where have I been the past 2 months? Seeking anything but the kingdom of God FIRST.
Prayer: Lord, thank You so very much for answering my prayers especially during the vacation. Thank You that You take me back even when I make the same mistakes over and over and over again. Your mercy and forgiveness totally blow me away. Help me to remember to look to You in everything I do and use me to reach others — to help others seek You FIRST in all they do. You are truly awesome and faithful. I don’t know why You love me as screwy as I can get sometimes — I’m just ever so thankful that You DO love me.
1 comment10“For as the rain comes down,
and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes
forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the
thingfor which I sent it.
– Isaiah 55:10-11 (NKJV)
Jenny over at Life is Not a Cereal shared yesterday about her struggle with putting God first. There were quite a few awesome things that happened through her honesty in posting. One, it made me stop and think about what I was doing to put God first. Often times I sit down at my computer to catch up on blogs or check email before I read my Bible. Second, there are many of us who struggle with this every day — I’d venture to say most of us if not all of us. There were many “me too” comments to her post. Third, Jenny made it a point to pick up something to read before she even had her coffee. She picked up one devotional and then another — not really feeling God speaking to her. Then she did an awesome thing. She picked up her Bible and just opened it. Have you ever done that? God led her to some scripture that really spoke to her, and frankly spoke to me too.
I sat down first thing this morning, sleep in my eyes and opened my Bible up to where ever. I opened it to Isaiah 55 and read some of these verses. God is so cool These verses talk about how God’s Word will not return to Him empty. It’s always planting a seed, watering a plant, or growing a plant big and strong. God’s Word always does His purpose. So maybe instead of reading what others have to say about God’s Word, maybe you should step away from the keyboard and grab your Bible. And yes, that includes reading this blog too You can always come back and read after you read your Bible!
Prayer: Lord, thank You so much for giving us Your Word to read. It is truly awesome and amazing to think that everything I need to know is in Your Word. Your Word had the power to create this world and everything in it. Your Word is so very powerful still today and will be forever. Thank You for sending Your Word to me. I truly am blessed to be able to read even several different translations of the Bible. Help Your Word grow inside me.
No commentsDoes the devil come after you?
3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ “ — Luke 4:3,4
A friend of mine went through her first spiritual attack last Sunday — at least her first noticeable one since she made the decision to follow Jesus. One friend told her she had left herself open for attack because she read the latest Harry Potter book. One friend told her the devil was trying to tempt her — distract her. She wanted to know my opinion on it. I told her I agreed totally with her second friend. The reason I don’t agree with the first friend is because Jesus was tempted by the devil three times in the wilderness. Jesus didn’t do anything to “open himself up for attack.” The devil is a deceiver and a liar. he will come after every single person, and I think he especially comes after God’s children. Why does he do that? Can he take away our salvation? Absolutely not! What he can do is distract us. In this scripture, we see the devil trying to get Jesus thinking about His physical body and hunger. Instead, Jesus replies with scripture — God’s Word — because He was focused on doing God’s will.
The devil comes after me all the time. “Sure it’d be ok to go read that blog. You can read your Bible later.” “Oh your body is so tired. Lay down and take a nap. The housework can wait another week.” I’m sure you get the point. When we wake up in the morning we need to start the day off with prayer. Prayer to help us be focused on God all day, to not be distracted by the devil, and to obviously see the devil’s lies and tactics for what they are.
Prayer: Lord, I thank you so much for sending Jesus not to just die for my sins, but to give me an example of how I should be living my life. I know I can’t do it alone. Please help me to be strong, to fight off the temptations that may distract me from Your Will, and give me the discernment to know when I’m being attacked and when I’m in Your Will.
3 commentsWhat do you put first?
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” — Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)
I honestly can’t believe I haven’t written a Potty Prayer about this verse yet. It’s one of my absolute favorites, and also one that I struggle with constantly. I have gotten away from my quiet time and reading my Bible in the mornings. I jump right in to reading other blogs (some Christian so that’s good, right?) and reading email and before I know it the morning is gone.
Well, that’s not good at least for me. Whenever I have a choice to make in my life, I remember this verse and look to God first. I need to continually do that, every hour of every day of every week. Whether I realize it or not, I make choices all the time — not just major choices, but choices on how I’m going to spend my time. Am I going to check my email now? Am I going to read my Bible? Do I turn on the radio or sit in silence praying?
Prayer: Lord, help me to constantly remember I am making choices. Guide me to make the right choices even in the little decisions I make all the time — most of the time without thinking. Make the right choice (Your choice) obvious to me so I know without a doubt that it’s from You. Thank You Lord for my renewed sense of being just what You have made me to be.
No comments