Prayer

I can't begin to think that I could add any further insight about prayer in addition to what has already been said and written. I wanted to share some highlights I have been reading from the pastor's conference I have been following on Twitter. Some of these have really made me think about the importance of prayer in my life and how earnest I have been in the practice of it. Please feel free to share your thoughts as well.

John Piper's opening prayer:
"Show us how by prayer we can move the arm of God."

Joel Beeke:

"Private, prayerful prayer is the minister's greatest weapon."
"The goal is not quantity, but quality in prayer."
"Backsliding begins in the private closet of prayer."
"We need to refuse to leave God alone."

How to take hold of yourself for more prayer:
1. Remember the value of prayer.
2. Maintain the priority of prayer.
3. Pray with sincerity.
4.Cultivate a continuous spirit of prayer.
5. Work toward organization in intercessory prayer.
6. Read the Bible for prayer. We need to listen to God and then talk to Him.
7. Keep Biblical balance in your prayers.

"Whenever you have the impulse to pray, pray!"

Christmas!

Merry Christmas! This fall has flown by, and the winter has brought Christmas lights and carols; hot cocoa and commercials for shiny things. With all of this comes expectations and disappointments, unpredictable weather, and a never-ending list of errands. In the midst of all of that, I actually sat down the other day and read a couple paragraphs in the book I've been working on since summer ended (welcome to the life of a teacher). Surprisingly, even those few paragraphs had something to say about this season. And since I have contracted the "spirit of giving," here it is for you to enjoy.

"It meant love to the uttermost for unlovely human beings, that through [Jesus'] poverty might become rich. The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity - hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory - because at the Father's will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will ever hear.

"We talk glibly of the 'Christmas spirit,' rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis. But what we have said makes it clear that this phrase should carry a tremendous weight of meaning. It ought to mean the reproducing of human lives of the temper of him who for our sakes became poor at the first Christmas. And the Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all the year round.

"It is our shame and disgrace today that so many Christians - I will be more specific: so many of the soundest and most orthodox Christians - go through this world in the spirit of the priest and the Levite in our Lord's parable, seeing human needs all around them, but (after a pious wish, and perhaps a prayer, that God might meet those needs) averting their eyes and passing by on the other side. That is not the Christmas spirit. Nor is it the spirit of those Christians - alas, they are many - whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian friends, and bringing up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the submiddle-class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian, to get on by themselves.

"The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christian snob. For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, life their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor - spending and being spent - to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care, and concern to do good to others - and not just their own friends - in whatever way there seems need.

"There are not as many who show this spirit as there should be. If God in mercy revives us, one of the things he will do will be to work more of this spirit into our hearts and lives. If we desire spiritual quickening for ourselves individually, one step we should take is to seek to cultivate this spirit. 'You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty should become rich' (2 Corinthians 8:9)"

Exerpt from J.I. Packer's Knowing God

Update on the Beaches

Well, so much has been happening, and I feel like I need to give everyone an update and a reason why I haven't posted anything in a couple months.


First, school kept me very, very busy. This year should be much easier, and I am praying that it goes much more smoothly than last year. I know most of the students already, and I have had a year to figure out what "good classroom management" really means. I am actually getting excited - school starts in less than 3 weeks!


Secondly, We moved into a duplex two weeks after school was out! Yay for one more bedroom and 150 more square feet (I know it's not much, but when it's a small house, every little bit helps!). We are still organizing the place, since we didn't get much time there before we...


... were blessed with the opportunity to travel to China for 3 weeks to tour the countryside, teach English in a couple of schools, and make new friends. It was an amazing trip, and we are just now getting settled back in Texas. NOW we have to get back to the grind, and try to put the rest of our little home together.





Bryan has already registered for classes this fall, and I am trying to put together what I need to be ready for school. I get my keys to my classroom back this week!


All in all, we are very happy, very blessed, and we are so thankful for all that God has given us and taught us in the last few months. We feel like we are learning every day, and that we are walking in the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, Whom we seek to serve in everything we do!

To Bryan

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints - I love thee with the breath
Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and, if God choose,
I shall love thee better after death."
-Poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1845 - 1847

Something in Your Teeth?

So you are eating at a restaurant with friends, or with a date, and you are having such a great time. You get home after a fun night, and go to the bathroom to brush your teeth, and low and behold, part of your dinner has been waiting for you between your two front teeth for WHO KNOWS how long?!



I'm sure I would get it out ASAP and wonder "how long has THAT been there?"

In James 1:22-25, the Bible is compared to a mirror that is used to reveal parts of our lives that might need to be cleaned out, or improved, for the glory of Jesus Christ. But how often do we see the flaws - whether it's selfishness, dishonesty, pride, etc., and then back away from the mirror and decide it's not worth fixing "right now". Instead of reacting with embarrassment or an eagerness to rid myself of these habits, I tell myself they really aren't THAT big a deal, and so many others do WAY worse things than I do.

But in God's eyes, the "little flaw" is a BIG BLACK SPECK that is wedged in my soul and needs to be brushed out! And I have noticed that Christ will use things and people and situations to continue bringing that "speck" to my attention. In order to honor my Creator and Savior, I must floss that old junk right out of my life and allow God's Word to transform me and make me a person who reflects the Love and Truth of God to the people around me.

James 1:22-25 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does."

P.S. I have to give credit to my dear friend, Jamie White, for the above analogy.

Where to Be

A friend of mine said this today, and I liked it, so I wanted to share. I also feel like it pertains to where I am right now, spiritually and physically, and where I want to be.

"It is better to be in the center of God's will and be in a war, than outside of God's will and in a peaceful pasture."

Although the very opposite seems to be more comfortable and inviting, it is a trap for me that leads to complacency and stagnancy. The Word of God says that we are in the midst of a battle, and to think that I can ever just cruise along unscathed is a daydream. Jeremiah 29:11 says,

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

One Step...

This thought has been reoccurring lately: everything I do either directs me toward Christ or away from Him. The choices I make demonstrate where my focus is. Do I want to be nearer to Jesus at the end of the day? Then choose Him at every opportunity!

Psalm 86:11
Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.