One Way

Hey everyone! Today I'd like to share a bit of insight I received from my reading in 1 Corinthians this morning. A lot of times, I think, we shy away from witnessing to non-believers or even seeking ways to do this because we're afraid - I know that's how it is for me! I'm afraid I won't say things right, or that the person will think I'm weird, or I'll accidentally offend them, etc., etc. So when I read this passage in 1 Corinthians 2, the implications leapt out at me: " When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. ...

Today's blog post is going to be a little different than what I normally do, but I wanted to share with you a bit of insight I believe God gifted me with this morning. Am I the only one who has those weird half awake, half asleep dreams? It's like someone is in my room talking to me, or there's a party going on, while I'm in my bed trying to go to sleep. It feels really real while I'm dreaming - so much so that I don't want to go to sleep all the way because I don't want to be rude to the dream-phantom I'm talking to! When I do wake up completely, I look back and think how utterly stupid those dreams were, and how much good sleep I wasted! Well, this morning as I sat down to have my quiet time, I realized that this "half-asleepness" is a great analogy of our life on earth compared to our life in Heaven to come. There are so many things in our lives that seem really, really, really important in the here and now - such as what other human be...

For those just starting to read this blog, this post is the second in a series I've titled "Hunger for Heaven". Click here to read the intro to this series, and click here to read the first post. Last time, we looked at what  our longing for God should look like. This time we'll look at the more practical how  we can cultivate this longing. Ok, let's get to it! There are likely many things we can do to cultivate our longing for God, but there are two main points from my study that I would like to examine here. First, we have to have a change of mindset , and secondly, we have to shift our diet . Yup, you read that right! Hebrews 11:13-36 gives us a great example of the mindset change we need to have: " All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on the earth. People who say such thing...

Hey all! This post will be the first in a series called "Hunger for Heaven" that will cover what I learned from my most recent Bible study on longing. You can read the intro to this series here . I said this in the introduction, but I wanted to put this disclaimer here as well: I am merely a studier of the Word. I am no expert, and I'm certainly not God! Although I enjoy sharing my insights, I certainly do not understand everything, or believe that I am necessarily right on everything I do understand. Even if I quote well-known theologians, such as Matthew Henry or John Piper, don't just believe it! I'd encourage you to take everything with a grain of salt, and go look it up in the Word, because God's Love Letter is the only written word in which we can trust completely!! So, let's get started! :) As I said in the intro, I want to long after God more, and not just at random points, but all the time! If I'm going to be rid of the selfish longings ...

I'm baaaaack! For those who don't know, the last post I wrote was in May, due to my college classes ramping up to the finish line. I have about two weeks left of school, but it's fairy easy work, so I'm hoping I'll be more regular on blogging again! A lot of changes have occurred in my life in the past couple months - some expected, some rather out of the blue! But I've seen God's hand and plan in each of these changes, and am excited to see what He has for me now that I'm almost done with college. Even so, I've recently been challenged by many sources (the Word, family devotionals, sermons, and personal study) to keep my focus on the future...as in the  future. The eternal future. About mid-July this challenge really hit home (no pun intended...ok, who am I kidding ;) ). I'd previously had a couple emotional experiences of intense longing after my heavenly home (in a very non-suicidal way, need it be said X-) ), but the "bout" of ...

Happy Memorial day!!! To all the military men and women who have or are serving our country, thank you so much for all you do! A lot of times we don't appreciate you enough! Well, this may be last blog post for a while (so bear with me, it may be a bit on the longer side). I'm getting into the last three month stretch of college, and the intensity level of things is rapidly cranking up. Although I'm greatly looking forward to finishing school, I still want to "work at it with all [my] heart, as working for the Lord, not for men" (Col 3:23), and the one of the biggest ways I can see myself doing that right now is removing myself from a lot of my internet activities that have become a distraction. I'm also looking forward to writing a blog post on what God's taught me through my experience in the last four years once this is all over. :) Ok, so on to today's topic - Love. Yup. Big stuff. And as I've said before, I really don't understand ...

So much has gone on in the past couple weeks!! Not only did I finish my joy study (yay!), but I got through the last two weeks of rehearsals and three performances of a Christian Youth Theatre play! (www.spiritualtwist.com) The play, titled "Genesius", focused on the persecution of early Christians in Rome, 303 AD. It explicitly shared the Gospel, and touched on themes like sacrifice, surrender, faith, love, joy in trials, and much more! I was HUGELY blessed to be able to be a part of this production, and know I will never be the same, especially after the role I played. My character's name was Claudia. Not only was she a Christian, but she was also a noblewoman, which was less common in those days. Her (fictional) husband was also an important official and a close friend of the Emperor, Diocletian. When Claudia and her daughter, Lydia, are captured and brought before the Emperor (which happens during the play), he tries to get Claudia to renounce her faith, first by a...

Well, I'm getting very close to the end of my joy study, and today, Day 26 out of 30, the action item for the day was to write a "Declaration of Thanksgiving" and share it with others! And the cool thing is, that this declaration pretty much sums up what I've been learning throughout this whole study. :) ~~~~~ Declaration of Thanksgiving      It is good and fitting for us to give thanks to the Lord in all  circumstances, and not just because " this is God's will for [us] in Christ Jesus. " (1 Thess 5:18) God deserves our thanks at all times and in all situations because He is God! He is good, his love endures forever, and he has redeemed us from the pit of our sin. He has performed innumerable awesome deeds before Mankind, including sending his son to die for a bunch of sinners, many of whom would continue to reject him after the fact!          No matter how difficult or painful our circumstances, God does not change .   ...

"'Simon,' he [Jesus] said to Peter, 'are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.'" (Mark 14:37b-38) I'm hoping to write a full blog post on my study of this verse soon, but unfortunately, I'm short on time today. In short - this passage speaks so much truth to me! Sometimes, we can get into situations where we feel "spiritually high" one day, week, or over an event/camp/worship jam, then the next day we're back to the same old sins/depression/doubt, etc., and it can all feel fake, like it was only some kind of adrenaline rush. We wonder how, or if, we will overcome the really big giants in our lives. But Jesus gives us the answer! " Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. " Not to say we will always be happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise - but for those who are truly his, God's promises are av...

Today was one of those first time experiences that I'll never forget. I've been a part of our local Church Body - Southwest Wake Christian Assembly (SWCA) - for right around eight years, and although we've had a dozen births and a handful of marriages, we've never had a death of one of Body members. One of our oldest members, Mr. Bob, was just transferred to Hospice this week with likely only a few more days to live on this earth. The whole situation was rather sudden - I knew he'd struggled with health issues for a while and was weak, but I didn't realize how close he's been to death. Today I got to visit him. Unfortunately, he was sound asleep the whole time, but I still got to talk and sing loudly to him. Even if he didn't hear anything I said or sang, I'm sure God will pass along the message when Mr. Bob falls into His embrace. I admit, I cried. It was emotional seeing him there, knowing he won't be here for much longer. I was also sad tha...

I can't believe I've been writing blog posts for a whole year now!! I've really enjoyed writing out my thoughts and insights from Bible study, and being able to look back over all that God's taught me this year. :) To "celebrate", the following is the very first blog post I wrote, which describes why I named this blog "One Way": ~~~~~~~~~~ In John chapter 14 verses 1-6, Jesus said: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the  way ?” Jesus answered, “I am the  way  and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except...

As of today, I'm 14 days through the 30 day "Choosing Gratitude" devotional! It's been a very enlightening journey, and I'd like to share with you some of the insights I've received over the past couple of weeks. For those of you who haven't read my previous blog posts, "Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy" is a wonderful Christian book by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, who takes an in-depth, Scriptural view on gratitude, how it leads to joy, and debunks the belief sometimes held by Christians that ingratitude (worry, complaining, covetousness) is an "acceptable sin". Not only does she do a great job at describing our need to put on gratitude and put off ingratitude, but she also created a 30-Day devotional at the end of the book so the reader is not left simply to ponder what they've read, but are given a guide to put it into practice! So, on Day 1 , I learned the definition of gratitude - "Gratitude is learning to recognize ...

Isaiah 12 packs a powerful punch for only having six verses. Yesterday, I thought I'd squeezed out most of the milk of the chapter in the three verses I studied. Man, was I wrong! The last three verses were just as powerful, and almost more convicting. Tomorrow, I will be starting a 30-Day Devotional Guide from the book "Choosing Gratitude", and I found that these three verses are a perfect way to get me started: "In that day you will say: 'Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.' " ~ Isaiah 12:4-6. I believe this set of verses rightly expresses the joy and gratitude we should have from the last three verses in recognizing our salvation ( click here to read part 1 ). So let's look a...

Well, it's been AGES since my last post, I know, and I just realized I didn't post at all in January :( And unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you see it), today's post is going to have to be a bit shorter as well. In December, I shared about my study of the Prodigal Son story ( http://elliejoi.blogspot.com/2012/12/lost-and-found.html ), and August through November I'd been posting about my study on how we are to use our words. Entering the New Year, I made a theme of study for myself for the year, one that I really need - the Fear of the Lord vs. the Fear of Man. I'll be reading through the OT prophets (starting with Isaiah) as part of this study. And just a note, I don't think my study on words is over by a long shot, but for now, it'll sit on the back burner. Anyways, in my study on Isaiah 12 this morning, I had a super cool insight (at least I think it's cool :) that I wanted to share with you all. The first three verses of Isaiah ...