Restoration

When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! – Job 42:10 NLT

Timeout!

Do you know the story of Job? Please read it. In the meantime, a quick synopsis is this, and trust me, I’m not really doing it justice by summarizing it. God allows the devil to ruin Job’s life. Job is faithful to God, but eventually, he cracks and questions what’s happening.

He has a wife that tells him to curse God and die, and friends who pretty much say he must’ve sinned in some way and God is punishing him for it. Suffice it to say, his support system is lacking. But today, I read the verse above and felt something say, slow down when reading it.

So the Lord is angry with Job’s friends because of how they misspoke about Him. He tells them to make a sacrifice to Him and have Job pray for them. Job! The friend that they discouraged as he was facing his trials.

Can you imagine how Job felt? He probably didn’t want to pray for them. They’d accused him of sin and, most importantly, didn’t speak truthfully about God. If he was like me, he probably thought to himself, “All I wanted was for them to pray for me to help me overcome this, and they didn’t. Now I’m supposed to pray for them! I’m supposed to ask God to forgive them?! This will be tough.”

But look what happened after he did. It says the Lord restored his fortunes. He had twice as much as he did before he lost everything! Now, might God have been willing to restore Job’s fortunes either way? I don’t know. Was his restoration contingent upon his prayer for his friends? I really don’t know. I do think it’s interesting that it says that after he prayed for them, his fortunes were restored. I think this is here for many reasons, and I’m sure in due time, God will reveal more of them to me.

Today, I think this verse is here for us to do. I’m not saying God is going to bless you just because you prayed for a friend or enemy today. I certainly believe it won’t be a bad thing if you do. I think this verse is here for us to try and see what happens.

Pray for someone today, not simply to have your breakthrough. Pray for someone to help them see how to restore their relationship with God! You will likely be blessed in the process, but don’t do it for you. Do it to point someone to God and enjoy the results of that!

Lovestruck- Podcast Book Review

We’re hitting the books with Lovestruck by Sharon Jaynes. I must say, this in-depth description of the Song of Songs gave me a clearer understanding of this biblical book.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1806754/

John 1

John 1:1-18

I so rarely if ever write anything about John chapter 1. It’s so meaty, and yet so clear. There’s so much to expound on and yet, so much in plain site for the person who is willing to read it for themselves. All that to say, here are my three big takeaways whenever I read this first part of John.

1) Jesus is the Word (v. 1).
2) Jesus has always been there from the beginning (v. 2).
3) If you really want to know what God is like, look at Jesus and you’ll find out (v. 18).

So what does that mean for us? Well, good news as always.

We can have hope because the Word gives us life and light (v. 4). We have the ability to live and the encouragement to do so in and through Jesus.

We can have confidence in Jesus’ eternal presence but also His eternal love for us because He came into a world He created but was rejected by. The Creator was rejected by His creation. Yet and still, He loves us enough to allow us to seek forgiveness and repent. He even gives us the opportunity to become His children (v. 10-14).

Finally, we can rejoice because we can know God personally and spiritually through Jesus. He is far from distant.

And in addition to all this wonderful news, we can rejoice because there are abundant blessings for the children of God through Jesus Christ (v. 16-18).

What Marriage Did

Can I start with saying that marriage is not a magic solution? What I’m saying in this post isn’t that marriage “fixed” me, but God used it to reveal things to me that I’d been blind to about myself. This really is a true statement I heard from Rick Warren, “marriage doesn’t conceal problems,but reveals them.”

Marriage has pointed out two important s’s in my life: selfish and sensitive.

Marriage has taught me that I’m far more selfish than I realized. And really that I’m far more selfish than I’d ever admit. That’s the great thing about marriage, it reveals things in you that otherwise you’d just ignore.

I’ve noticed how sensitive I am. I’m easily offended by Brandon and I’ve really become a big softie since being married. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it definitely has made me turn more emotional molehills into mountains.

Could someone point these things out to me? Maybe? But reflecting on how I respond or react towards Brandon is what really made it obvious.

Have I tried to change? Yes. Will I be perfect? Nope. How is this encouraging? Easy. I know things I need to change about myself to become a better person.

For many many reasons and in many many ways, marriage has made me a better person. It is the second best decision I’ve ever made and will ever make. It’s because of this decision that I’ve been influenced and am able to grow into a better person. If I don’t know I need to change, I won’t. Thanks to marriage I know what I need to change and through the power of the Holy Spirit I can.

My marriage reminds me of how God uses it to bring us closer to Him. It reminds me of His love for us. And it reminds me that He is patient to see us change. Think about it, I got married when I was 27? For 27 years I’d been living with this root of selfishness that God revealed in a deeper level through my marriage.

My marriage reminds me more than anything of the gratitude that I have for God loving me unconditionally and patiently.

The Power of Forgiveness

I think that if I could have a power it would be to forgive quickly. No, I don’t want to be gullible or a pushover. I don’t want to be foolish. But I do want to forgive quickly. I don’t want to rid myself of the poison of unforgiveness as soon as possible.

Our pastor said something that will stick with me forever. I can’t remember if it was a direct quote from him or someone else, but either way it’s good. “Forgive first, then find the reasons to forgive.”

If the hard part is forgiving, then make the choice ahead of time to forgive. After that, look for reasons to forgive the person. If you’re a Christ follower you have quite a few:

1) God forgave you. It’s that simple. No one will ever be as offensive to you as your sin is to God, yet He forgives you.
2) Set a Christlike example. If your goal is to be like Christ then your goal is to forgive like Christ.
3) Put yourself in their shoes. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Have you ever said or done something that would warrant you needing to be forgiven? Probably.

So I return to my above statement. If I could have any power it would be to forgive quickly. The truth is, I actually do have this power. So the real question is, what am I waiting for?

Daughters Podcast – Conference

Tune in to hear how the first D.A.U.G.H.T.E.R.S Conference went this summer!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1806754/11058655-daughters-conference-2022

Teaching with Authority, Part 2

for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.
Matthew 7:29 NLT

Above is the verse we started with yesterday. And we looked at the fact that people were amazed at Jesus’s teaching. He simplified the Gospel instead of complicating it. So how was this so easy for Him to do?

1) It’s Jesus. God in flesh. So He truly does have authority to teach unlike the religious leaders.

2) There is such a difference in studying and memorizing God’s word for useful instruction versus destruction.

Unfortunately, a lot of these leaders were manipulative. Where God’s Word was to be used by them for healthy instruction, they used it as a tool to tear people down. God’s Word and Will had become a chore rather than a loving choice.

3) I don’t mean to use the word easy in a disrespectful way, but it was easy for Jesus to teach with authority unlike the religious leaders because the leaders had no heart behind their teaching.

You can know the Law of God but without knowing God, you won’t want to obey it. These leaders were heavy on obedience but light on heart. What I mean is that they really would focus on the sacrifice we should make for our sins but not on the heart sacrifice for repentance. They opted for religion over relationship.

Unfortunately today, it still happens. I can personally say that I get so focused on the routine of a relationship that there’s no real authority or power in my walk. And that’s a problem that is clearly as old as time.

Talking the talk without any actual walk a.k.a. lifestyle that reflects Christ is the prime example of religion over relationship. When this happens, no matter how much we study the Bible and memorize Scriptures, it won’t yield authoritative teaching. Teaching with authority develops from a relationship with the Father, and that’s what Jesus had.

Teaching with Authority, Part 1

for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.
Matthew 7:29 NLT

Talk about a time to self-assess! So Jesus is giving some how-to’s. Essentially, some simple steps to truly honoring God and what that looks like in practical ways.

Verse 29 always amazes me. Because Jesus has really not complicated what it means to follow Him. He’s removed the complications that years and years of works produced. In fact, make sure to read all of chapter seven, it’s a great chapter to read. We find The Golden Rule in this chapter, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” There is also wisdom on effective prayer, judgment, and so much more.

So Jesus has preached and shared these truths and the people are amazed. What gets me is that Jesus has simplified the Scriptures and people are amazed at His teaching. And amazed in a good way because he taught with real authority.

Imagine being a religious teacher. Your entire life is dedicated to studying and memorizing the Scriptures. You spend years and years of repetition with the Holy Scriptures, scroll after scroll after scroll. Then Jesus comes to town (the One you’re supposed to be looking for) and simplifies what you’ve been studying for years, and the people are in awe of it! How can this be?

Tomorrow, let’s venture into what makes this unique. Obviously, the fact that it’s Jesus is the start.

Flowers for Brandon

Today’s metaphorical flowers go to Brandino aka Brandon, my husband.

Brandon is a hustler, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. He’s not a hustler to the point of sacrificing life and relationships. I mean he’s a hustler in a sense that he’ll make “it” work.

This guy shows up if I’m speaking somewhere and serves as a personal photographer/ videographer. He doesn’t have to, but he does so that he can support me.

He volunteers at church in the same role. It’s just an honor seeing him grow and strive and reach to work towards his goals. He has goals and vision that are God honoring and a blessing to so many others.

Brandon rocks. You’ll always have flowers from me babe.

MooreTime Podcast

We used our Quizzes for Couples book in this episode. The questions were:
What is one skill your spouse would want to teach you?
What is their most valued possession?
Can they keep a secret?

Listen in as we discussed and added to these questions.

https://mooretime.buzzsprout.com/1006603/10264777-what-would-you-teach-your-spouse