Who God is, and who I need to Be

   Every time I sit down to start typing out a new post, I type "Wow, the Lord has been teaching me so much, where do I begin?" But that's exactly how I feel. I am always overwhelmed by His grace, goodness and gentleness in my life. I could not begin to write all that has happened in my heart since last time I wrote.

But I do know that God is great, God is glorious, God is good, and God is gracious (thank you, Sub Terra Church!). 

   When I was growing up, I knew all the great Bible stories of the Old Testament. Wow, what an incredible and powerful God we serve! But then when I grew up, I was taught, but He doesn't do those types of miracles anymore. He works differently now. Talk about deflating my image of God. But as I get closer to God, as I read the Scriptures, understanding as the Spirit reveals, I see, the God of the Old Testament is still the same God in the New Testament that I worship today. He is still so powerful and holy, yet tender and good. So the past week or so, I've been starting off my prayers to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That just helps me understand who it is I'm talking to. That puts it into such perspective for me that my God transcends generations and culture. 

   Funny thing happened when my heart was in tune to Who I was praying to. I have seen God answer prayer this week. The most beautiful was the prayer of my daughter. She wanted a pink ring because some of her friends have pink rings and she didn't have one. I told her, pray about it, and see if Jesus wants you to have one. So she prayed right there. We went to church, and at church there was a girl who made rubber band bracelets, and made one into a pink ring for my daughter! She also received a bracelet, as well as her sister did! I had tears in my eyes! That was such a sweet moment when we got home to talk with her about how much Jesus loves us, and He gives us More than we ask or think! I thought of my own prayers, and my own lack of faith that Jesus loves me like that. No, this was a beautiful faith building moment. He has answered a few of my prayers also this week, in ways so creative, and so quick, I was in awe. Yes, my God is so good to me! So precious. He is so desirable. 

   Another big focus this week was about faithfulness. Jesus is the best giver, but He is also the best Lover. 

  Why would we seek love from another source other than Him? I have been tempted this week, not in big things to some, but the temptation was great for me. One of my prayers was that the Lord would reveal the filth in my heart. I don't want to carry it around. So, I was tempted in ways that possibly were even good things, but it would have taken me away from the God I love. In those temptations, I saw how weak my flesh was, and how prone I am to wander away from Him. But I also saw how Jesus fought for me, and I can say that Jesus got the victory! Praise God!
   I was listening to the book of John on audio, the words Jesus spoke in chapter 17  about how Jesus focused on praying for His followers, that they would be faithful. That hit me home. I do pray for more people to know the Jesus of the Scriptures, but  haven't spent  too much time praying that my friends would be faithful. But then that got me into a deeper study about God's plan for His people to be faithful to Him. Wow. This was explosive. It really is a great theme in the entire Scriptures. I read Jeremiah 1 and 2; I would encourage you to read through these chapters; it's too long to write out here. Oh, the.God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a beautiful Lover. We are so soon shaken away from Him, and He's left there wondering, what did I do? I've broken your chains, I've given you freedom, and you still desire love somewhere else? He longs for love in return. But I also saw that faithfulness to Him is so important that He destroyed Northern Israel because of their unfaithfulness. Do not think for a moment that we can get away with the same sin unharmed. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. Now, despite what some would think, faithfulness to God is not the same as being faithful to church. Yes, church is a big part of following Him, but we don't worship church; we worship God. He desires our hearts, not our outward actions. I believe our greatest spiritual obstacle in America is not the liberal politicians, but the way we worship Churchianity instead of the Christ of Christianity. Our hearts are so quick to seek love somewhere else. Be faithful to Him. I pray you would be faithful. I pray that I would be faithful. This topic of faithfulness is too big of a topic for me to cover completely. For further study, read John 17 and the book of Jeremiah and Matthew. Really, just dig into the Word with an open heart, pray for the Spirit to reveal truth. Our God is beautiful and holy, and He is a jealous God.
   How does this fit into Motherhood? Friends, if you are committed to the God of the Bible, your allegiance is to Jesus Christ first of all. Our hearts are sinful, but Jesus changes us so that our hearts would be changed to walk in fellowship with Him. Our relationship with our kids and those around us is a byproduct of our encounter with Jesus. Walking in the Spirit, whatever we do with our home will last for eternity. Our flesh cannot please God, even if we have the right motives. The only way our home will be what it's supposed to be is when we are in fellowship with Jesus, walking in the Spirit, serving out of love. 1 Corinthians 13.
   So, before we see what needs to be done in our home, we need to see who we need to be in Jesus.