I think I posted a few weeks ago that I would be volunteering at an assisted living faculty for some extra credit. I am "teaching" a bible study there with about ten ladies. It's wonderful. I love putting together a little bible study and I live the women there. They are so sweet. I haven't talked about it with my parents, but I'm thinking about volunteering there after I am done with my ten hours. Pray that the Lord would show me what I have time for and what I want to do.

I was recently reading Psalm 119. Two words that pops up a lot are teach and law. The author pleads with God continuly to teach him His laws. I don't like having rules pushed on me all the time. But this man could not seem to get enough of God's laws. That just speaks of how freeing God's laws are compared to man's laws. Isn't that awe inspiring.

To be given to all children running around after Church... but in reality our kids our pretty good.

Psalm 27:1-3

Of David.

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh, ^[a]
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

Drama, tears, late at night. Pain, rage, yet healing. Effects of what I thought was hidden sin brought to light. Thank You for being my strength, because it is to much to bear alone.

"The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body."

1 Corinthians 6:13b

The worlds definition of love is so different than God's. God's definition is way more awesome than whatever feeble explination of love we can come up with.

1 Corinthians 13

Love

1If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,^[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Not everything is beneficial

Part two of the series.

1 Corinthians 6:12

12"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything.

This verse can cause much confusion. I have often heard it misquoted; however, I recently had it explained to me in a way that made so much sense.

The background of this verse is that the Corinthians were saying that they had the freedom in Christ to do anything they wanted. If you look later in the passage it implies that this might have meant to be as sexually immoral as they wanted. If you look at my previous post you can see why this was so bad. They said that "Everything is permissible" for them, but Paul was telling tthathaat is not what freedom in Christ means. We do have a grace where God forgives us, but that doesn't mean we go out and sin on purpose. Yet that is just what the Corinthians were doing. This raises the question what is exactly freedom in Christ then? Freedom in Christ means we know have the freedom to do good. Let me explain. Before Christ we were depraved and unable to do be holy. We had to live by the law yet were unable to keep that law. When Christ came, he broke the law and gave us the freedom to do good.He gave us freedom to depend on Him for our stregth and goodness and not our selves. Pretty amazing.

Yes we do have a certain freedom where if we sin God will forgive us, but our true freedom is now in our relationship with Christ. Why taint this freedom with sin?

Lord, I thank You for the freedom that You give. I thank You for the price You paid so I could have that freedom. Give me strength to do Your will. Amen

It's time for another series. If you never read my fist series they are called: Walk in Love, Walk in Light, and Walk in Wisdom.

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (New International Version)

Sexual Immorality

12"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13"Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."^[a] 17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

For a long the verse,"Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body" has puzzled me. It would see that we know enough abomedicineine now that we know that there are many things we do to our bodies that harm us. We smoke, we drink, we starve ourselves, and we over eat. On the whole we can do a lot to harm ourselves. But why should sexual immortality be the only sin against the body?

First look at the text. It says above in verse 17 is says,"But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit." Pretty cool, right. It is a beautiful and wonderful thing that we can have communion and unity with God. We have a personal union with the Holy Spirit. Sex anotherher, different kind of union. One that God has set apart for only a man and his wife. When we give ourselves so freely over to fornication, it is abominationion. You are defiling God's temple and your relationship with God. We have been made alive by Christ's death on the cross. We have been created to be made on with God, to worship God. Why taint that beauty with our immortality?

Father, please make me pure and holy, fit to have communion with You. Thank You for communion and the blessing of Your relationship. May I never turn away from it. Amen.

I read this article in World Magazine that really made me think. It showed me a whole new way of looking at our faith. It also explained why God has us use faith.

All your mind by Andree Seu
It's for a good reason that the Christian life is not a to-do list Andree Seu
Joseph found his betrothed to be with child—and not by him. "Being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, [he] resolved to divorce her quietly" rather than throw the book at her (Matthew 1:19). Small footnote in Scripture; big leap in this reader's understanding. Here was a thinker, a grappler, who wrestled within the parameters of righteousness and found one way more excellent than another.
Father Abraham, there was another thinker. He "considered his own body, which was as good as dead." Then he thought about the promise of God "that he should become the father of many nations." Then he thought about God's track record for keeping His word, and Abraham emerged from that mental exercise deciding to trust in God (Romans 4).
Mary "pondered" (Luke 2:19), and Daniel "sought to understand" (Daniel 8:15), and the Psalmist cried, "Search me" (Psalm 139:23). None of them thought it unscriptural to be analytical, or a usurpation of the Holy Spirit's role to engage their faculty of reason. The Lord was in the process.
If the Pharisees had known what it meant to love the Lord with "all your mind" (Mark 12:30) and not to reduce righteousness to rote rules, they might have understood why mercy is better than sacrifice (Matthew 12:7), and why money donated to the Temple does not absolve you of obligation to your parents (Matthew 15:1-9), and why people hanging around Jesus don't feel like fasting (Mark 2:18-22).
I have often wished the Christian life were a to-do list dispensed daily from on high, eliminating guesswork:
Today, call your mother
Increase your tithe by $20
Send Calvin to Philmont Christian Academy
Read this book, not that one
Move to Winnsboro, Texas
Plastics!
I would gladly comply with that kind of piety. But I think the Christian life is by faith in order that it be by engagement of "all your mind" (Romans 14:5b).
How would you like it if your husband gave you his body and paycheck but showed no interest in getting to know you? God wants your mind more than your tithe. Likewise, the second great commandment is a mental workout, too, say Allender and Longman in Bold Love. Who is my neighbor? How does a mile in his shoes feel? How can I love him for his own good?
They say we use just a fraction of our minds. I do. Something is bugging me—dull, like a pebble in the shoe—and I just live with it, carrying free-floating angst all day. Why not set my mind to name it, and locate the "root" of that bothersome "fruit" (Luke 6:43-45)? The unjust steward in Luke 16:1-8 didn't blubber but brainstormed. "Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do" (C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair).
Self-diagnostic questions: Why am I miserable? What desire of mine is being frustrated? What is it I fear? (Here you will face some ugly truths.) Follow the process through and you are brought to a decision point. What was amorphous before is now a fully conscious raft of options.
I don't know what the inside of your head looks like, but mine looks like Guernica. You don't realize how out of control your thought life is until the day you try to rein it in. Redeemer, redeem every part of me, "take every thought captive" (2 Corinthians 10:5)!
Some things I've decided in my mind you would probably call legalistic. There are foods I don't do because they lead me to weight gain, and weight gain to depression. Depression, in turn, hinders my race. Ergo, donuts are sin for me, but not for you. (It's just between me and God.)
My friend Barbara's hip starts aching and she knows it's time for a visit to the chiropractor, and he does this thing with her ankle and it puts her whole body back in alignment. What's good for hips and cars is good for minds. I take regular inventory: "OK," I say to myself: "What is it I said I believed about Jesus?" "Do I have good cause to believe it?" "Shall I continue to follow Christ or not?"
Jesus once put a demoniac "in his right mind" (Mark 5:15). I thought about that and figured He can do it again.

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. ”- 2 Thessalonians 1:3

Isn't it amazing that we grow in Christ? Isn't it exciting that we grow in love for one another? Thanks be to God and may we always seek Him with all our hearts. Amen

Okay! This is really exciting. I have to do ten hours of community service for extra credit for Human Bio. My teacher gave us a list of a few places on that list was Sunrise Assisted Living. I have worked with them before caroling with my youth group and choir. I called them and they said that the people who normally lead the bible study there are away in Florida and they need someone to do something to replace that. I said I would love to do that. Isn't that cool I get to lead a small bible study and worship. Two great passions in my life.

Pray that I will be able to do this. It may not work out because my dad's car just died and I have to work with my mother's schedule sharing a car. So if any of you guys know a good car for sale for three thousand dollars, let me know immediately. For the rest of you pray that we get a car soon.

The Lord is good. Amen.

This is a song I wrote a few years ago and I recently found it while cleaning my room. I'm not sure what to call it, but that's okay. If you want me to sing it for you, you will have to capture me and kidnap me. Bah, ha, ha, ha.

Please stop the noise cause I seem to be missing,
The Joy in my life I had found,
I lost you trying to be someone else,
Your whisper got lost in the crowd,

Can anyone hear,
Can anyone see,
Can anyone breathe,
Can anyone feel,
I am looking for life,
And I just seem to find it in You,

Lord, You are the joy in my life I have found,
One can feel so alone in the darkness,
You have set my feet on solid ground,
In You I found my rest,

Can anyone hear,
Can anyone see,
Can anyone breathe,
Can anyone feel,
I am looking for love,
And I just seem to find it in You,
(And I only can find it in You)

Apart from You I am nothing
Apart from You I can't survive
I'm striving to be more like You
Cause You are the one who makes me alive

Can anyone hear,
Can anyone see,
Can anyone breathe,
Can anyone feel,
I am looking for life,
I am looking for love,
I am looking for life,
I am looking for love,
And I just seem to find it in You,