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[IronInsanity]

Awesome devo today ATW.

[\SHINE/]

ATW your writing reminds me of Joyce Meyers- very profound, her story is similar to yours .

[AllTheWay]

The Faithful

"My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me. he who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me." psalm 101:6-7



oh to be faithful before the LORD. it isnt easy. we battle against the flesh daily and it is a choice that is ours to be faithful or sinful. yes, our choice! we are the ones who choose to practice deceit or to walk blameless. it seems to be a big trend in todays society to blame everyone else for the choices that we make and the difficulties that come with those choices. my tech is having a difficult time with her 17 year old daughter. she is sneaking out of the house at night, drinking, not coming home at curfew, hanging around with people who are a very bad influence on her. i am proud of jenn as she and her husband have decided to fight the very difficult fight and to demand that she follow the rules of their house. they have taken away her cell phone, her driving priveledges, her freedom essentially has been striped away. the problem is that the daughter blames her mom for everything. instead of examining her life and thinking, i have caused this to myself and it is my behavior and my actions that have gotten me here, no instead it is because my mom isnt proud of me and she doesnt like my friends and she is too hard on me wah wah wah wah! as parents im sure most of us can relate to this attitude and it drives us crazy! already the monchers try to do that to me. well mom, if you hadnt done this. thankfully i am very aware of this and i immediately correct them, state the truth of the matter and make them do whatever it is that i have told them to. it is hard work! the thing that we fail at seeing is that we do this exact same thing to God! we make ungodly choices, we choose to watch things or listen to things or read things that we know has ungodly contents and then when we fail in our walk we blame God. we choose to say the inappropriate thing or have the wrong relationship and when it all starts to crash down around us we cry out "God, why did you allow this to happen to me!" here is the thing, it was our choices that get us to where we are in life! that simple! and our lives wont get better until we take ownership of those choices and repent of them. God wants so bad to pour out His blessings upon us but when we are choosing wrong desires He will not do it! how much differently everyones life would be in jenns household if her daughter would say, you are right mom, it is my fault and im going to start making better choices. i will be responsible for my actions. and then start to take the steps to change things. her parents would be estatic, they would do everything they could to help her and to make things easier for her. but so far, it isnt happening and she is miserable and her family is miserable. when we choose our sin and our wrongful desires over Gods than we are choosing pain and misery and it is no ones fault but our own! is your life a wreck? are you struggling and blaming it on your spouse and your kids and your job? what is your part in all of it? Jesus, thank you that your ways are perfect! forgive me for my worldly desires. forgive me for blaming others for the difficulties in my life. it is no ones fault but my own and the choice to change that is mine. help me to choose life and blessing over sin and pain!

[AllTheWay]

Shine, it has been years since i have listened to anything by Joyce Meyers but i know that she is very popular and seemed to have a good message.

[AllTheWay]

Repentance

"and He said to them, 'thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from jerusalem.'" luke 24:46-47

repentance, what is it? we read and hear it all the time but do we truly understand what it means to repent? wikipedia defines repentance in this way-

Repentance is a change of thought to correct a wrong and gain forgiveness from a person who is wronged. In religious contexts it usually refers to confession to God, ceasing sin against God, and resolving to live according to religious law. It typically includes an admission of guilt, a promise or resolve not to repeat the offense; an attempt to make restitution for the wrong, or in some way to reverse the harmful effects of the wrong where possible

it has only been the last few years that i have been on the repentance wagon. dont get me wrong, i was always pleading for forgiveness but i never gave myself to repentance! the scripture above says that we need "repentance for forgiveness of sins." think about that for a minute. in order to get forgiveness, you must first repent! WOW! that is a big deal. so many of us are taught to just ask for forgiveness! sin and fall, go to God and say "sorry God, forgive me for this sin. and on we go and go right back into our sin. why is it so hard to get past our sin, why do we constantly remember it and keep coming back to it? why? because we are forgetting the very important part that must come first, repentance! without repentance there is no true forgiveness! if you arent willing to take responsibility for you sin and your actions than there can be no healing and therefore you will never get past this sin! asking for forgiveness is easy, repenting is hard, very very hard! taking ownership of ones sins! not blaming it on anybody else or anything else but choosing to look deep at your heart and identifying the problem and laying it out before God! i have been doing this and growing in this area and let me tell you, it is the way to victory! no, it wont be a one time deal. it is still a battle, a daily battle but one that we can have success in and overcome! how do we repent? i suppose it is a bit different for each of us as we are all driven by different things. for me, i find true repentance in writing it out before God. it isnt some random half hearted pray, God, i gossiped again today, dont know why i am gossiping but im sorry. i dont want to do it. that isnt repentance! repentance is deeper than that. repentance is finding out the why! why are you falling and failing in that sin! God, i gossiped today and i did it because i want people to like me more than that other person. i wanted to make them look bad so that i look better, so that my sins dont look like much of anything. God, i fell into pornography again today. i do it because i wont take control of my sexual desires. i do it because i am not willing to focus my thoughts on you but rather i focus them on myself and my physical needs! i get pleasure and i am not willing to give that up for you! God, i sought the attention of men today. i sought it because i want to know that i look good. i want attention, i want to know that somebody sees me. i want to know that somebody appreciates all that i have done. i do it because i am not living completely for you. i do it because of my pride. i do it because i want the world to notice me and that is because i am not thinking on the things of God. God, i neglected my family again today. i say i do it because we need to pay the bills but really i do it because i want people to look at me and all the stuff i have and know that i have succeeded. i do it because i am greedy and i want more than what i have. i do it because i covet the stuff that other people have and i dont. you see, it is hard and it is revealing and it makes us uncomfortable! but that is what it takes to get past your sin, to get forgiveness for your sins, to live in a place of victory! what is the real reason behind your sin? are you willing to lay it all out before God? He already knows the reason, nothing you say will suprise God but it might suprise you! are you willing to open yourself up and expose the root of your sins? Jesus, thank you that i can have complete forgiveness when i repent before you. i still struggle but you are giving me great victories everyday! i cant fix myself unless i know what is the cause! thank you for your complete forgiveness when i expose myself and my actions and reason to you! you already know them, i need to know them so that i can be victorious against them!

[AllTheWay]

What are you doing?

"glory in His holy name; let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad, seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face continually. remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels, and the judgments uttered by His mouth." psalm 105:3-5


it seems like such a simple thing, to seek the LORD but it is not! each morning i start out on my knees and then reading the word and im listen to a message and im thinking about what im going to write and listening to songs of praise. i start out with my mind on Christ and then i let the cares and the worries of the world take over. i get done writing my devotional and my mind starts to wander to what the day is going to be like. i check on the forums, i get caught up in getting the monchers ready for the day. distracted and my mind is no longer seeking and dwelling on the things of God. i am lucky in that i listen to christian music in the office and jenn and i talk about the Lord alot but often times at the end of the day, my mind is far from the LORD. i am no longer seeking Him, i am no longer remembering His wonders! how do we change that? how do we keep the LORD at the front of our mind 24/7? the enemy wants to get us side tracked. he wants to take the good and make it become bad. he wants for us to dwell on worldly pleasures and problems! you see, the more he can get our minds off Christ, the more that he can draw us into sin. we are told to write the words of God on the tablet of our hearts and to bind them around our neck! it is a conscience thing that WE have to do! so much sin comes from the unoccupied mind. we get to thinking about some random thing and before long we are drifting off into thinking about what all is wrong with our lives and thinking that we need something that we dont. we start dwelling on our problems and we get depressed or worried or we start to get angry. it is human nature to look for an out when our emotions start to get the better of us! if im feeling bad about myself, what can i do to make myself feel better. im going to gossip about someone else, make them look bad so maybe i can feel better about myself. im going to go view some porn so that my flesh feels good. im going to go and start chatting with someone i shouldnt because it makes me feel better about myself. im going to go drink so that i dont have to think about what is going on. im going to go watch a movie or a show and let it distract me from my life. so many ways for us to get our minds on everything else but Christ! why? because it is hard work to keep ones thoughts focused on God. if we arent making the conscience choice to do it, to fight against the enemy then we will find ourselves a slave to sin! just like not going to the gym, the body will revert back to what is was if not worse! it takes hard work and dedication to change our physical bodies and it take hard work and dedication to change our spiritual life as well! we have to make the effort to dwell on God and His word. how? what if when you started getting frustrated about something that you dont have, why not go to the bible instead of the phone. pick up the word of God and start reading insead of calling your friend and gossiping to make someone else look worse than you feel. the word of God is alive and active and sharper than any two edged sword! what if instead of watching TV at the end of the night to unwind, you picked up the word of God and started reading? how much better would you feel when you went to bed? instead of all agitated and stimulated by the world, you would be comforted by the word! the choice is ours! Jesus, thank you that you have given us everything we need to live for you and to make better choices! forgive me for seeking the world and its pleasures to fill the voids in my life! fill me with the desire to seek you in all things, every day, every unfilled moment thinking of you and praising you! there is nothing else i need!

[AllTheWay]

Refuge

"from my distress i called upon the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me in a large place. the LORD is for me; i will not fear; what can man do to me? the LORD is for those who help me; therefore i shall look with satisfaction on those who hate me. it is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. it is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes." psalm 118:5-9

how often do we rely on others to meet our needs? we look to man to fulfill our emotional requirements and make us feel good about ourselves. after my divorce i was very much this way. there was a hole in my life and i tried to fill it with mans attention. i looked to people instead of to God for company and to feel like i was worth something. i tried to fill my emotional needs by having wrong relationships. the problem is that man can never fill our deepest voids! no person can fill the hole in us that was made for God! when we try to fill this space by other people, we end up making ourselves and the other person or persons miserable! i have often related my story of spending way too much time on a bar stool during the time post seperation/divorce. looking for something or someone to fill the emptyness that was left. i didnt need another person, i needed God! yes, God made us to share our lives with someone but we need to learn to share our life with God first! God should become our best friend! God should be the one we seek first when we are struggling or are down or lonely! God was like my second choice during this difficult time. at the end of the day when i was in bed and feeling sorry for myself i would then turn to God. im sorry God, help me God, im so lonely God. yes, i turned to God but my prayers were still all wrong! i wasnt taking refuge in God, i was whining and complaining. it is no wonder that He made me wait for several years before He allowed me to find a godly man! during those years He grew me, He changed me, He was my rock during the storm! His plan for my life was to make me rely on Him and not man for my comfort and my companionsip! to seek Him and to dwell with Him when i was lost and lonely! God has truly become my refuge and my resting place! it is a wonderful place to be! it is hard to describe the peace that is there. we are meant to share our lives with other people but our greatest joy and comfort should come from time with God and not from those in our lives! i used to be very needy and had these unrealistic expectations of the people in my life but God took me and separated me and made me rely on Him and only Him! Jesus, thank you for separating me and showing me that you are all i need! thank you that i can take refuge in you and never be left alone! forgive me for when i am needy of mans attention! continue to grow me so that your attention is all i seek!

[Get Some]

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" - Romans 3:18

you're doin a phenomenal job girl Keep at it and stay strong always!

[AllTheWay]

Thy Word

"Thy word i have treasured in my heart, that i may not sin against Thee." psalm 119:11

"the law of Thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces." psalm 119:72

"forever, O LORD, Thy word is settled in heaven." psalm 119:89

"if Thy law had not been my delight, then i would have perished in my affliction"
psalm 119:92

"Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." psalm 119:105

"establish my footsteps in Thy word, and do not let any iniquity have dominion over me." psalm 119:133

"those who love Thy law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble." psalm 119:165

psalm 119, what an amazing chapter! i have often dreaded reading this during my time in the morning that i spend in the word because of the length. silly i know but it shows me that my heart was not in loving and learning the word but rather in just performing some act that i thought was necessary. as i read this chapter this morning all i could think about was how could i dread this chapter, it is amazing! it is so full of promise and such great truth! it will now be a favorite of mine! the word of God! living and active and sharper than any two edged sword! are you in it? are you reading it? are you reading it for understanding? are you reading it because you are supposed to? are you reading it as just words on a paper? is it a light unto your path? do you have great peace? is it your delight? does it mean more to you than money? is it a treasure in your heart? is it settled in your heart? i have been reading the bible almost daily for atleast 5 years if not longer and yet i have missed so much! i read out of obligation and not love. i did not use it to light my path. i read it and when i was troubled i read it a bit more but i didnt live it! there is a difference. i read it but i didnt treasure it! it was not more valuable to me than the things of the world. if i had read it as the light that it should be to us than i would have loved psalm 119. i would have been anxiously waiting to get to this chapter. i would have known that it was an incredible passage to be in! i would have written its words upon my heart and treasured them and known them and used them and gained great peace from them! it is easy to get complacent in our time in Gods word. it is easy to put it off until tomorrow or to say that we have read it so why are we reading it again. or to rationalize that we go to church so we dont need to be in it on our own. that is living in darkness! that is missing out on the peace that comes from meditating on the word of God! that is missing out on the great treasures that are promised for the one who loves and lives the word of God! these are not just words on paper, they are Gods words, they are settled in heaven! they do not change, they will not change! are you walking in the light? or living in darkness? do you have great peace? do you want it? Jesus, i love you and i love your word! forgive me for my past obligatory reading of your word. grow within me an all consuming desire to devour and know you word! to read it and gain understanding! let it be my everything! my light, my peace, my joy!

[IronInsanity]

You are so right ATW... Ps 119 is a beautiful Psalm full of truth

[AllTheWay]

Who is building your house?

"unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. it is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in His sleep. psalm 127:1-2


after i left my parents house and went out into the cold hard world, everything that was my goal was to result in the building of my house. my house? what does that mean exactly? to me, house in this passage refers to not to our physical house of wood but our life in general. if you think of life it is very much like a house. there is the room that is geared towards work, a room that is ones spouse, a room that is ones children, a room that is ones hobbies, a room for stuff etc etc. most of us build our houses around ourselves. we build our house, our lives, around our dreams. most of us plan our house building around a career or around a spouse or around a child. the problem with that is that is not a foundation that will hold up against the difficult times of life. my first house was built around my career. really it was what was first and foremost in my life when i was young. it was the living room of my house. go to school and get my education so that i can go work. then came a husband. i added a room on to my house that would include that part of my life. it was a pretty simple house that was not very strong. tough times came and husband was kicked out of the house, geez now i have an empty room so lets fill it with another husband, cant have an empty room. the foundation of my house was still the same, nothing had changed other than i had found another person to occupy the vacant room. the foundation was still faulty. more rooms were added, a room for the children, a room for stuff. my house was growing. it looked good from the outside. here is this house that has a career, a husband, children and all this stuff. but it was all built on the sand! life got difficult and there was no solid ground in which to secure the room for the husband. attacks from the enemy and the unsure foundation and that room fell off. the room that was full of stuff, ripped away by a deminishing economy. things in my career were making a change. everything was falling down around me. i am happy to say that it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me! my works, my thoughts, my building gone and in its place was started a foundation that was built on the word of God! there were a few times when i would try to put some worldly rooms in but they failed quickly, thankfully. it has taken several years to build this new house and it will be under constant construction. at the center of my house now though is Christ! He is my foundation, He is were i start each day! on my knees and in His word! the rooms are few and they are anchored to Him. the clinic, the kids, my relationship, all centered around Christ! i dont lay in bed and toss and turn and worry about how things are going to happen because Christ is my watchmen and i know that He has everything under control! who is your house built around? you or Christ? are you laboring in vain? are you restless and tossing and turning at night because your foundation is shifting? Jesus, thank you that a house built on you will never fail or fall! thank you for tearing down the house that i had built around myself. thank you for buildng my new house. no labor required by me, just my trust in you and my time spent with you! it is a perfect house and i will never leave it!

[AllTheWay]

Virus protection

"but the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one." 2 thessalonians 3:3


I am extrememly computer illiterate. no ones fault but my own as i am too lazy to educate myself because it is not something that interests me. my mom on the other hand, she is a computer nut. completely self taught in all things computer. takes them apart to try and fix them and knows how to get them clean of viruses and all that kind of stuff. the other day i was typing away on my computer and the windows XP virus protection pops up and says im infected. so me in my ignorance clicks and clicks and upgrades and pays for the latest editon of virus protection. go along my way happy as a clam not realizing what i had just done. yep, i download the windows XP 2012 virus on my computer. total ignorance. i tried to run it the first day and it froze my computer up. thats odd, ok shut down and on we go. last night decided, need to run and check for viruses, click and click. get distracted as the monchers just got home, come back and computer is froze up again. hmmmmmm im not smart but im not stupid either. shut down, turn back on, search windows XP 2012, yep way too go debbie, a very nice little viral package i have downloaded to my computer. so today first thing on jenns list of things to do will be to get on the phone with tech support that we thankfully have for the program that we use at the clinic and get it all cleared up. i was chastizing myself for being so gullible as to download something without even checking it out. but we do this all the time with sin. we willingly allow it access to our life. it always seems so convient and simple. an opportunity to flirt with someonethat we shouldnt, a chance to look at photos of scantily clad women, a gathering together of friends to talk about other people, buying something that one really cant afford, working too many hours and neglecting ones family. when the opportunity presents itself it seems like no big deal, maybe the chance of a lifetime or so we think, just a few clicks of the mouse, or a few extra hours at work, or a few more dollars gone from the bank. no big deal, right? the problem is it is just like the virus that is now on my computer, it is slowly infecting your whole life. this virus has disabled my other virus protection software. when we allow such things in our lives it seperates us from God. we stop going to church or reading our bible or spending time in prayer because we are infected and we feel guilt. we know it is there but we dont want to get rid of it yet. we shut down our protection and our source of strength! we disable that in our lives. it takes effort to rid ourselves of the virus, the sin in our life! when i get to the office it is going to take time for one of my employees to be on the phone with tech support. it is going to cost me money in several different ways, there is a cost to the infection. not only did i pay for it to start with but now they have my credit card info and i am going to have to go through all of that to cancel the card and try and get the charge off and im going to have to pay jenn for her time dealing with it and im going to have to pay tech support. there is a great cost to something that seemed like such a great thing a few days ago! what sin are you allowing to infect your life? sensuality? greed? gossip? unforgiveness? neglect? pornography? so simple and seemingly harmless at first and yet it shuts us down and separates us from our protector! Jesus, thank you that you are the very best virus protection that there is! we can come to you and confess and repent and be forgiven and you will build us up and protect us from the enemy but it does come at a cost to us. the cost is denial of ones own desires! thank you for saving me from myself! thank you for protecting me from further infection as i stay connected to your word for my continual virus protection and upgrades!

[AllTheWay]

Searching

"where can i go from Thy Spirit? or where can i flee from Thy presence?" psalm 139:7

"search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." psalm 139:23-24

how many of us really want God to search and to know our hearts? this has been a recent honest prayer for me and it isnt an easy one. we were born with a sin nature. folly is bound up in the heart of a child. in sin my mother concieved me. it is our nature to sin and to desire sin and it takes great effort to change that. so often we use it as an excuse or we rationalize it because of what the world is doing around us. we sin because we dont want to deny ourselves what we think will bring us or some other person pleasure. that is pretty much the center of all sin isnt it? selfishness, desire for something that we think we dont have. the serpent got eve to eat the apple by telling her she would know more. the selfish desire for more! God knows exactly why each one of us is sinning! there is no where we can hide! when we are doing and living in our sin we want to believe that God doesnt know the true reason. we want to rationalize our sin and our thinking. we often clothe it in worldly thinking and actions. this is the 21st century, things are different now, God wants me to be happy, i deserve to be happy, it isnt my fault that my spouse is miserable, my wife neglects me so it is ok if i look at other women, my husband doesnt talk to me so it is ok if i have this emotional affair online. we come up with excuses that we tell ourselves and we tell God but He knows the real reason! there is nothing that we can hide from Him. He knows that we have made ourselves unhappy by our choices, He knows the reasons for your need for attention, He knows your needs for sexual pleasure, He knows your needs for emotional love and support. the question is do you? are you willing to search below the surface of your excuses to reveal the reasons why? most of us dont want to because it all comes down to our failures and our wrongful desires that we have blamed others for! God already knows, what you tell Him isnt going to be any suprise to Him. it might suprise you but you will never suprise God! you will also never get all that God has for you until you do! Jesus, thank you that you are working deep within me to change me to be more and more like you! thank you that there is nothing that i do that you dont already know the reason for. me telling you does not shock you or anger you but rather once i tell you we can start working together to change it! help me to only work on fixing myself and let you work on fixing those around me! more of you and less of me!

[IronInsanity]

Great passage of scripture ATW. So many want to blame others when if we, as believers, looked inward with the help of the Holy Spirit and asked God to heal us, He would freely restore us. Jesus paid the price with His blood.

[AllTheWay]

Soaking

"the LORD is near to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fullfill the desire of those who are fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. the LORD keeps all who love Him; but all the wicked, He will destroy." psalm 145:18-20


on friday we had a client call and tell us that she had found a turtle on the side of the road that had been hit by a car and its shell was broken. i know nothing about turtles but jenn has done some study in marine biology and has worked with such type animals before so we let them bring it in and drop it off. it had a fracture of the shell over the rt front leg and its shell on the bottom was cracked the length of the right side. jenn made some phone calls and we did some research on the internet and by the end of the day we had a plan for the turtle. it is a red ear slider which is a water turtle. it is important for them to have access to water in order for their hydration. one thing that was agreed upon by every exotic vet that we talked to was that the turtle needed to soak for about an hour a day to stay properly hydrated. saturday we did surgery on the turtle to repair its shell and let it soak for an hour while it was in recovery. sunday when jenna put it in the tub to soak, it pushed itself into the deeper water and tried to submerge in the water. i was happy to see it because i figure that is what a turtle should do. as i went to church that morning i thought about the turtle and its need to soak is no different than us as christians and our need to be in the soaking of worship to God. i missed church last week because we were out of town for emmas birthday. all week i had been irritable and on edge. as i started to worship and clear my mind i was so refreshed. it was my weekly soak in God. yes, i meet with Him every morning and spend time in prayer and reading His word but just like the turtle needs to soak in water, i need to soak in corporate praise and worship to God. we cant do this walk on our own. just like that turtle needs us to help it and to put it in the water to soak, we need our fellow christians to help us enter into a spirit of praise and worship to God. He did not make us to go this journey on our own! it is easy to get caught up in thinking that we dont need to go to church because we are mature and maybe we dont care for the pastor or we dont like the people etc etc but that is the enemies lie to get us to dry up spiritually! if the turtle is not soaked in water it will become susceptible to all number of problems and eventually die from dehydration. if we christian arent involved in corporate worship and fellowship with other christians than we are susceptible to the enemies attacks and we dry up spiritually no matter how mature we think we are in Christ! i came out of church feeling full and hydrated and a lot less dry and irritated. Jesus, thank you that your plan for us is perfect! thank you that you created the church so that we could be soaked in you! forgive me for when i think that i dont need that! place in me a consuming desire to be always in your presence and to be kept by you!