Monday, January 19, 2009

A new theme

Every semester the Lord seems to give me a new theme. Some verse in the Bible or some character trait or some truth of Himself to meditate and work on throughout that semester. My freshman year it seemed that He wanted me to know that He was the best friend that I could ever have and that he could provide. This was probably because I knew no one when I first came and I was always broke. Sophomore year, He taught me that His love and His strength were always enough. It was during this time that I lost many friends, including one guy that I was considering for marriage. God proved to me that it didn't matter if every single one of them left, He was always enough. He also taught me a lot last year about surrendering my will for His perfect plan.
Last semester, It seemed that every message and devo had to do with love. Loving others the way Christ loved them and doing so without dissimulation or hypocrisy.
This semester, Many messages have zeroed in on a specific topic that God has shown me in my personal Bible reading as well. Focusing and living a more godly life. I love Psalm 27 and Galatians 5 and 6. That is where I was in my Bible reading but I haven't really moved any further since I found them a couple of weeks ago. I just keep reading them again every morning. Psalm 27 is teaching me 3 things...
There is a verse in there that says "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to enquire in His temple." This verse says to me: "FOCUS!" What one thing have I desired of the Lord? In my heart of hearts, I want to marry a godly guy and serve with him in the ministry and someday be a godly mother. That is the one thing in life that I pray he will let me do. If I could keep this desire in the front of my mind at all times, it would probably change the way I live. It would change who I hang out with, and who I give my heart to, and what kind of music I listen to, and what I fill my mind with through movies, and what comes out of my mouth, and how I handle difficult situations and people... It would affect a lot if before I make any decision at all I would remember.... I want to marry a godly guy and be in the ministry.... think about that. What do you want most from the Lord? For all of us, it should be to hear "Well done thou good and faithful servant." That desire would change a lot too!
Later in the chapter, it says "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek." How often do I really, whole heartedly seek the Lord? Not nearly as often as I should. Seeking the Lord must be about more than just saying a quick prayer in the morning or before bed. I want to try this semester to truly know what it means to SEEK the Lord.
The last verse in the chapter says "Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart; Wait I say on the Lord." Wow, what a hard thing to do! I have posted about this several times so I won't go into much right now but this is something that I need to learn to do better. I need to patiently wait for the Lord to provide... provide finances, a husband, the next step in my life... everything. I just have to wait and be of good courage. I have every reason to face this waiting with courage... God is in control and He knows and only wants what is best for me. Plus! He promises that if I do wait patiently and with courage (trust) then he will strengthen my heart. I'm not gonna die!
Galatians 5 and 6 simply talk about walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and also the fruit of the spirit. I'm trying to take time to focus on each one... so far I haven't gotten past love... it seems I need a lot of work in this area.
Well, I will get back to the "Walls" at a later time. In the meantime, hope this was a help to someone. This is just what I feel the Lord is working on me about this semester. I will keep you posted!

2 comments:

Tammy said...

Very good post. Wish you wouldn't wait so long between each one! Love you. Mom

Calvary said...

Hey Jen! Great post... as always! It's alway encouraging and challenging to read your blog. (I know I always say that but, it's true.)