I read Exodus 7-10 this morning, catching up with the 90 Days Bible Reading in this Summer, I am so thankful and love God even more!
Knowing that He is the LORD God, Jehovah, who did what He said to His people, Israel, & to the people of Egypt also the same God I worship, that is the God who is doing and will do what He says to me and my family. He is the Just, Righteous and Faithful God.
I am so thankful to be His child and people, and He is my God.
Is Jehovah, the LORD God, is your God, too?
So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:15-20 NLT)
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, our live is changed. We do things under Holy Spirit power and control:
– Live our life wisely.
– Understand God’s will for our lives and the world.
– Sing songs from joyful and praiseful heart among believers.
– Hymns (song that exalt and praise the awesomeness of God) from joyful and praiseful heart among believers.
– Sing spiritual songs, songs of testimonies of our lives about who Jesus is amd what He has done in our lives.ed
– Sing new songs to the Lord, the song overflow from our hearts to the Lord.
– Give thanks to God, the Father in the name of Jesus Christ.
We worship God at any places, any circumstances, any aituation, any time, any moment.
Make worshiping God as your lifestyle. Be Spirit-filled God’s worshipers. Our children see and do what we do. We set the examples they need starts from our own home. They will live to worship God when we do that as our family life style.
Are you worshiping God from your Spirit-filled heart?
In the last 2 weeks I’ve been so discourage with things do not go well as I expected with our plan.
I feel like we are trapped in our life busyness yet we suppose to do more contacting people and looking for more opportunities to share about our ministry plan and needs with people.
It seems that everything stops just right there. We do not know what to do, how to move on, or who else to contact.
Yes, I am feeling discourage with all of those. Why? Because I expected more that we could do. Because I wanted to do more but I am limited. Because I would like to do more than just what I am doing now at home, but I couldn’t. Because I wanted Dave to act more but he couldn’t because of his working hours and projects. And more reasons that we could think of.
My husband had talked with his employer about the plan, and they made decision that by end of June he can work with more fleksible time and by April next year he will be done with his work. It means soon it will be less income and then no income at all? That means we have to have enough supports to live our life, the baby will be here in September, we need a reliable family car, paying bills, every day living costs, insurance, also we need funds for our Partnership Development process, and many other needs… The list goes on!
All these things are juggling my mind and heart upside down. Worries are taking over my mind again. How can we do this? Can we survive to live here? What will happen if by the time Dave has no job and we still cannot go? What should we do? And then more questions keep popping up in my mind, and pretty sure in his heart and mind, too.
For we have a target to go on the field by June next year, and how that possible?
Today, again, God is telling me something from His word. When I read from the book of Psalm this morning, here what God’s word:
Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you—
even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar.I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life.
“O God my rock,” I cry,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I wander around in grief,
oppressed by my enemies?”Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!(Psalm 42:5-9, 11 NLT)
God reminds me from this passage that when we are discouraged or in difficult time, He never leave not forsake you and I, because:
God reminds me that all things that I’ve mentioned above, all the things on our To-Do list and all our plans are meant to be done with God’s power and way, not with ours. How can I forgot about it? It is impossible of us to get things done, but IT IS POSSIBLE with God & through Christ!
God’s plan is never fail! He NEVER FAILS! As long as we live and do what God has planned, obey and submit to His authority, He will lead our way and guide every step we have to take to accomplish His will in our live.
At the end, all the glory, praise, honor and thanks be to God! All who see what has done will worship God!
“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies.”- Hudson Taylor
I’ve been struggling with consistency in my parenting days with Abigail. It’s been not so easy to be consistent all the time. It’s not easy for me because I didn’t grow up with that. But, as I went through my emails today, I came across this email and read this verse from NLT Marriage & Family Devotional (from 05/14) really change my mind and heart. God’s word says,
My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. (Proverbs 3:1)
It is important for parents to be consistent with what they say and do to our children, especially in the area of discipline (which I struggle the most since the beginning of being a mom). Every time I discipline my little girl, my heart hurt and sad. My old memories come back in my mind when my dad used to discipline us and how I hated him for that. That’s the one I do not want happen to us, as parents, Abigail will hate us because we discipline her. But also God’s word teaches us that,
Don’t fail to discipline your children. They won’t die if you spank them. Physical discipline may well save them from death. (Proverbs 23:13-14)
What I learn from this verses that our discipline is out of love for her, not out of anger. We want Abigail to be wise so she will be a girl what God wants her to be, for her to have a teachable heart and respect us as her parents. We want Abigail to see that she can make a right choice or the wrong with which always comes with consequences.
In my struggle with consistency as parents and discipline, I pray for God’s word to light up our path as parents. I pray and need the Holy Spirit to help us, to guide us, and to teach us to be the parents God wants us to be for our children. I need wisdom from God to understand how to handle and solve the problems with our children and how to guide their hearts to God.
All we need is God. It’s only through Christ Jesus we can do the right parenting, we cannot achieve anything when we are out of Jesus.
How’s your parenting and consistency as parents when you teach your children?
"God Is So Big"
Every day since we came back from our Equip training with Wycliffe Bible Translators, my 3 year old daughter, Abigail, never stop singing this song:
God is so big, so strong and so mighty.
There’s nothing my God cannot do.
The Mountains are His, the rivers are His,
the stars are His handiwork, too.
God is so big, so strong and so mighty.
There’s nothing that He cannot do for you.
She learned this song at the Missionary Kids class that they provided for her and other kids while the parents attended their classes for 2 weeks. God provided great teachers for each group of kids.
Until today, she has to sing this song at least every morning, nap time and bed time (I do not count the time when she sings the same song for 10 times, each song). She just loves singing and dancing, too!
So, this song is stuck in my head (and my heart) now. This morning, when I woke up, I sang the song in my heart and God reminded me how big He is. It’s a very good reminder to me because lately since we came back from the training, I have a lot of thoughts that keep me from sleeping and start to worry about what’s life gonna be in this transition process, what I should do to prepare my family and myself, how our Partnership Development going to be, and even how I am going to survive with a newborn baby and doing all of these transition and things on our To-Do list. This matters start taking over my faith.
But truly God is so big, so strong and so mighty. There’s nothing that He cannot do for those who loves Him and trust in Him and His way. What I need to do is be still and know that He is God. God knows my heart and my mind, He knows my worries and my struggles. So He knows yours, too!
I hope today this words from a children song will be a good reminder for all of you that our God is so big, so strong and so might. There’s nothing that He cannot do for you!
What things that make you worry today?